Wing IV · Semantic lineage
inquiry
Oldest known meaning — to seek into, to search after.
seeking → asking → formal investigation
Excavation timeline
How the meaning shifted
Etymological strata
Layers of descent
- inquīrereLatin · classical
Latin — to seek into, search for, examine
- enquerreOld French · c. 1300
Old French — to ask, inquire
- enquery / inqueryMiddle English · c. 1400
Middle English — a question, a search after truth
- inquiryModern English · 1500s+
English — investigation; formal examination
Constellation
Descendants & cognates
Inner ring — modern descendants of the same root. Outer ring — cognates in sister languages. Gold descendants link to their specimen.
Semantic drift
How the sense moved
The vast family of quaerere — quest, question, require, conquer, exquisite — all descend from seeking. Inquiry keeps the most literal sense: to seek *into* something. The drift from physical searching to mental questioning is the quiet movement that makes science possible.
Metaphorical expansion
Where the word reaches now
Cultural sediment
The worldview inside the word
To inquire is to treat the world as something searchable — a worldview where answers are hidden but findable.
Related descendants
Words from the same root
Sources
Confidence & citations
Lineage confidence · Well attested
- · Online Etymology Dictionary
- · OED, s.v. inquiry, quest