Where does “conquer” come from?
Conquer comes from Middle English conqueren, from Old French conquerre, from Latin conquaerere, combining con- and quaerere.
conquer (English): To defeat in combat; to subjugate; To acquire by...
Definitions
- To defeat in combat; to subjugate; To acquire by...
Ancestry of “conquer”, step by step
conquer traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Latin conquirō
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Latin | conquirō | to seek for, hunt up, search out eagerly or carefully, go in quest of |
| 2 | Latin | cōn- | Used in compounds to indicate a being or bringing together of several objects |
| 3 | Latin | cum | with, along with; at; -fold |
| 4 | Old Latin | com | Alternative form of cum |
| 5 | Proto-Italic | kom | with, along, at |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱóm | beside, near, by, with |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱe | Deictic particle, here; Post-positional... |
| 8 | Middle English | kyt | — |
| 9 | German | kitt | putty certain kinds of cement used for fixing e.g. window panes |
| 10 | Old High German | kuti | — |
| 11 | Proto-West Germanic | kwidu | gum, resin |
| 12 | Proto-Germanic | kweduz | resin |
| 13 | Proto-Indo-European | gʷet- | resin, gum; to say, speak |
| 14 | Proto-Indo-European | gū- | to bend; curve; arch; vault; to bow, bend, arch,... |
via Old French conquerre
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Old French | conquerre | to conquer; to defeat |
| 2 | Latin | conquaerere | second-person singular future passive indicative... |
| 3 | Latin | quaerere | present active infinitive of quaerō;... |
| 4 | Latin | quaero | I seek, look for; I ask, question, inquire,... |
| 5 | Proto-Italic | kʷaizeō | — |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | kʷeh₂- | to acquire |