English
disquisition
Disquisition comes from Latin disquīsītiō ‘inquiry, investigation’, and goes back to quaerō ‘to look for, seek’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEquaerō‘to look for, seek’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEdisquīrō‘to investigate’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEdisquīsītiō‘inquiry, investigation’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentdisquisition
- Englishearliest quotation 1759same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEquaerō‘to look for, seek’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEdisquīrō‘to investigate’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEdisquīsītiō‘inquiry, investigation’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentdisquisition
- Englishearliest quotation 1759same form
Earliest quotation: 1759, Adam Smith, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar: “Upon this account political diſquiſitions, if juſt, and reasonable,…”
The story
Borrowed from French disquisition (‘disquisition’), from Latin disquīsītiō (‘inquiry, investigation’), from disquīrō (‘to investigate’) (from dis- (prefix meaning ‘apart, asunder’) + quaerō (‘to look for, seek; to inquire, question’)) + -tiō (suffix forming nouns relating to an action or the result of an action).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *kʷeh₂- ‘to acquire’
through Proto-Italic *kʷaizō
conquest, questionnaire, 9 more
through Latin quaerō ‘to look for, seek’
quest, inquiry, conquer, query, acquisition, enquiry, inquire, exquisite, requisite, inquisition, inquisitor, 11 more
Today it means
noun A methodical inquiry or investigation.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin quaerō / disquisition