English
questionary
Questionary may come from French questionnaire.
- Frenchc. 1600–presentquestionnaireuncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1928questionary
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Frenchc. 1600–presentquestionnaireuncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1928questionary
Earliest quotation: 1928, Lewis Spence, Mysteries of Britain: “In this questionary God is described as the life…”
Formed from question + -ary
Latin quaerere ‘to seek’
…
Latin quaestiōnem
Old French question
Anglo-Norman questiun
Middle English questioun ‘a problem’
English question
The story
Either from French questionnaire or formed in English from question + -ary.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *kʷeh₂- ‘to acquire’
through Latin quaerō ‘to seek, look for’
inquiry, acquisition, exquisite, conquer, inquire, query, enquiry, requisite, conquest, inquisition, inquisitor, 11 more
Today it means
noun A questionnaire.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / French questionnaire / questionary