inquisitor

English

Alternative forms

• inquisitour (obsolete)

Etymology

From Old French inquisiteur, from Latin inquīsītor.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈkwɪzətəɹ/

Noun

inquisitor (plural inquisitors)

1. A person who inquires, especially searchingly or ruthlessly.
2. (historical) An official of the ecclesiastical court of the Inquisition.

Derived terms

• Grand Inquisitor

Translations

interrogator, questioner

• Catalan: inquiridor m, inquisidor m
• Czech: inkvizitor (cs) m
• French: inquisiteur (fr) m
• German: Inquisitor (de) m, Befrager (de) m, Vernehmer (de) m
• Greek: ανακριτής (el) m (anakritís)
• Portuguese: inquisidor m, inquiridor m
• Spanish: inquisidor m
• Welsh: chwilyswr m

official of the Inquisition

• Bulgarian: инквизитор m (inkvizitor)
• Catalan: inquisidor m
• German: Inquisitor (de) m, Ketzerrichter m, Untersuchungsrichter m
• Polish: inkwizytor (pl) m
• Portuguese: inquisidor m
• Spanish: inquisidor m
• Welsh: chwilyswr m

Further reading

• inquisitor on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Latin

Etymology

Agent noun of inquīrō (“inquire, investigate”) (past participle inquīsītus) + +‎ -tor.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /in.kʷiːˈsiː.tor/, [ɪŋkʷiːˈs̠iːt̪ɔr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /in.kwiˈsi.tor/, [iŋkwiˈs̬iːt̪or]

Noun

inquīsītor m (genitive inquīsītōris, feminine inquīsītrix); third declension

1. searcher
2. inquisitor, tracker, detective, spy
3. examiner, investigator

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	inquīsītor	inquīsītōrēs
Genitive	inquīsītōris	inquīsītōrum
Dative	inquīsītōrī	inquīsītōribus
Accusative	inquīsītōrem	inquīsītōrēs
Ablative	inquīsītōre	inquīsītōribus
Vocative	inquīsītor	inquīsītōrēs

Descendants

• Catalan: inquisidor
• Galician: inquisidor
• Italian: inquisitore
• Occitan: inquisidor
• → Old French: inquisiteur
  • French: inquisiteur
  • → English: inquisitor
• → Portuguese: inquisidor
• Russian: инквизи́тор (inkvizítor)
• → Spanish: inquisidor

References

• “inquisitor”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “inquisitor”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• inquisitor in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.