LATIN DICTIONARYLexicon Latīnum
noun · femininefirst declension

querēla

querēla f (genitive querēlae)
Classical[kʷɛˈreː.ɫa]Ecclesiastical[kʷeˈrɛː.la]

Meaning

  1. complaint, protest, grievance
    Dēsine mēque tuīs incendere tēque querēlīs.“Quit distressing you and me both with your protests.”29 BCE – 19 BCE, Vergilius, Aeneis 4.360
  2. illness
  3. lament

Latīnē defined in Latin in our graded readers

vōx querentis
querēla -ae (f) — in Epistulae, ch. 22

Choosing the right word Döderlein's Latin Synonyms

Questus · Quiritatio · Querimonia · Querela

Questus and Quiritatio are expressions of pain; questus, in single, quiritatio in continued tones of lamentation; whereas querimonia and querela are expressions of indignation; querimonia in the just feeling of the injured person, who will not brook an act of injustice; querela in, for the most part, the blamable feeling of the discontented person, who will brook no hardship. The Querimonia is an act of the understanding, and aims at redress or satisfaction; the querela is an act of feeling, and aims, for the most part, only at easing the heart. Cic. Cæcil. 3. In populi Romani quotidiana querimonia: comp. with Fam. v. 14. Tu non intelliges te querelis quotidianis nihil proficere. (v. 310.)

Declension

declension
formsingularplural
nominativequerēlaquerēlae
querēllae
genitivequerēlae
querēllae		querēlārum
querēllārum
dativequerēlae
querēllae		querēlīs
querēllīs
accusativequerēlam
querēllam		querēlās
querēllās
ablativequerēlāquerēlīs
querēllīs
vocativequerēlaquerēlae
querēllae

quĕrēla or quĕrella, ae, f. queror,
I. a complaining, complaint (class.).
I. Lit.
A. Ingen.: intervenit nonnullorum querelis, Cic. Q. Fr. 1, 2, 1, § 2: hominum vel admiratio vel querela, id. Lael. 1, 2: inveterata, id. ib. 10, 36: epistula plena querelarum, id. Q. Fr. 3, 8, 1: longae, Ov. F. 4, 83: vestrum beneficium nonnullam habet querelam, gives some occasion for complaint, Cic. Fam. 10, 28, 1: his de tot tantisque injuriis, id. Sest. 30, 64: cui sunt inauditae cum Deiotaro querelae tuae? id. Deiot. 3, 9: querela Lucretiae patris ac propinquorum, id. Rep. 2, 25, 46: QVI VIXIT SINE VLLA QVERELA CVM CONIVGE, without any complaint, Inscr. Grut. 480, 5.—With obj.-gen.: frontis tui, Cic. Pis. 1, 1: querela temporum, against the times, id. Fam. 2, 16, 1: aequalium meorum, id. Sen. 3, 7.— With quod: an quod a sociis eorum non abstinuerim, justam querelam habent, Liv. 32, 34, 5.—With obj.clause: falsa est querela, paucissimis hominibus vim percipiendi, quae tradantur, esse concessam, Quint. 1, 1, 1. —
B. In partic., a complaint, accusation (postAug.): advocati flagitabant, uti judex querelam inspiceret, Petr. 15: frequentes, Dig. 5, 2, 1: instituere, to institute, ib. 5, 2, 8; 5, 2, 21; Val. Max. 9, 10, 2. —
II. Transf.
A. A plaintive song for lulling children to sleep: longa somnum suadere querela, Stat. Th. 5, 616. —
B. A plaintive sound, plaintive note, plaint; of animals or instruments. — Of swans: tollunt lugubri voce querellam, Lucr. 4, 546.— Of frogs: et veterem in limo ranae cecinere querellam, Verg. G. 1, 378; cf. id. A. 8, 215.—Of doves, Plin. 10, 34, 52, § 104.— Of the plaintive tones of the tibia: dulcesque querellas, Tibia quas fundit, Lucr. 4, 584; 5, 1384.—
C. A pain that occasions complaining, a complaint, disease, malady: pulmonis ac viscerum querelas levare, Sen. Q. N. 3, 1, 3; Traj. ap. Plin. Ep. 10, 18 (29), 1.

Origins

From queror (“to complain”) + -ēla. The form in -ell- is due to reanalysis as a diminutive.

Descendants
  • Catalanquerella
  • Englishquerela
  • Italianquerela
  • Portuguesequerelafrom Old Galician-Portuguese querela
  • Spanishquerellafrom Old Spanish querella
  • Lombardquerela
  • Lombardquerella
  • Old Frenchquerele
  • Galicianquerelafrom Old Galician-Portuguese querela

In English words that came into English from querēla

  • quarrelquerēla
  • querulantquerēla

Quick answers

What does querēla mean in Latin?
querēla, a noun, means “complaint, protest, grievance; illness; lament”.
What is the genitive of querēla?
The genitive singular is querēlae. querēla is feminine, first declension.
How do you pronounce querēla?
In classical Latin, [kʷɛˈreː.ɫa]; in ecclesiastical (church) Latin, [kʷeˈrɛː.la].