Where does “quest” come from?
Quest comes from Middle English quest, from Old French queste, from Latin quaesta, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European gʷet-, meaning to ask or seek.
quest (English): A journey or effort in pursuit of a goal (often lengthy, ambitious, or fervent); a mission
Definitions
- A journey or effort in pursuit of a goal (often lengthy, ambitious, or fervent); a mission
Ancestry of “quest”, step by step
quest traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Middle English quest
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | quest | A legal inquest or investigation; a session of... |
| 2 | Anglo-Norman | queste | search; act, instance of searching |
| 3 | Latin | quaesta | tribute, tax, inquiry, search |
| 4 | Latin | quaesita | nominative feminine singular of quaesītus;... |
| 5 | Latin | quaesitus | sought for, having been sought for; asked, having... |
| 6 | Latin | -tus | Forms the past participle of verbs; Forms... |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | -tus | — |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | -tus | Derives action nouns from verb roots |