English → Latin
“quest” in Latin
rogātiōAn inquiry or proposal to the people for passing a law or decree; a proposed law, decree or bill.; A question, interrogapetītiōan attack, thrust, blow; a request, petition, beseeching; an applying for officequaestiōproblem; seeking, search; inquiry, investigation, questioning, questioninquīsītiōsearch, inquiry, examination, investigation; collecting of evidenceinquīrōto seek after, search for, inquire into something; investigate; pry, examine; to search for grounds of accusation againsanquīrōto seek, research, investigate, examine judicially; to indictconquīrōto seek for, hunt up, search out eagerly or carefully, go in quest of; to collect, bring together; to investigate, searcconquīsītorrecruiting officer, recruiterinquīsītorsearcher; inquisitor, tracker, detective, spy; examiner, investigator
The English word quest itself goes back to Latin quaerō, through quaesta.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
quest
Search: by circumlocution with the following verbs, e.g., to be in quest of anything, aliquid quaerere; aquam quaerere (to be in quest of water): perquirere aliquem (by making many inquiries): inquirere (by following anybody’s traces): anquirere (to take great pains in finding out): conquirere (of several objects that one is in quest of, also with the accessory notion of taking much trouble about it): one that is in quest of anything, conquisitor; inquisitor (the latter of one who follows the traces of any suspicious person).
Request, rogatio: petitio; libellus supplex (if couched in writing, Mart., 8, 31, 3).
Inquest or jury sworn to inquire, quaestio; inquisitio (the examination of any matter in order to come to the truth, veri). Vid: also, EXAMINATION, INQUEST.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for quest?
- The usual Latin words for “quest” are rogātiō, petītiō, quaestiō; also inquīsītiō, inquīrō, anquīrō. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.