percontor

Betekenis (Engels)

to inquire, investigate, interrogate, question strictly

Uitgesproken als (IPA)

[pɛrˈkɔn.tɔr]

Etymologie (Engels)

Uncertain, suggestions include:
* from contus (“stick, pole; plummet”), as if "to probe, to feel the depth with a (long) pole";
* from cū̆nctor (this appears semantically unconvincing and more likely simply influenced by it, as in the Vulgar Latin derivative below, but compare Japanese 掛ける);
* from Proto-Indo-European *preḱ- (“to ask”).