Word of the Week: Disquisitive

Word of the Week:  Disquisitive

Today's word (and the name of this blog) comes from Bones:  Season 8, Episode 2 - "The Partners in the Affair" which originally aired on September 24, 2012

Dr. Temperance "Bones" Brennan:  When I was examining the skull I found that the fissures felt... wh, what was the word I used, Mister Abernathy?

Finn Abernathy:  Disquisitive.  I had to look it up - in this case it means her "spidey sense" was tingling.

I had to look it up too, but I could not find any definitions similar to Mr. Abernathy's (which is essentially intuition) nor could I find any definitions that matched Dr. Brennan's use of it.

Disquisitive (adj)

•  Relating to disquisition:  This particular definition is already apparent in the '-ive' suffix.  Looking this up further - a disquisition is a long or over-elaborate discussion or essay on a particular topic.  Most of what I write - for any reason - winds up being a disquisition (or is 'disquisitionary').  This definition could be accurate for this context since could get into a long discussion about the skull - however because in order to move the plot along, they do it succinctly instead.
•  Fond of discussion or investigation:  Since a lifeless skull cannot discuss or investigate this does not match the context.  It could, however, be said that Dr. Brennan is very disquisitive - as she is often investigating all kinds of things in her professional and personal life, and often likes to discuss the finer details of her research (much like I do - hence why I decided to create a blog about such things)
• Examining:  I find this definition rather unusual, since 'Examining' is a verb.  It's uncertain how something could be described as 'Examining', however the skull could be 'worthy of an examination' - that does not come sufficiently close to any of the other meanings however.
• Inquisitive:  This more closely matches the second definition listed here, however there does seem to be a slight difference between 'inquisitive' and 'disquisitive'.  Inquisitive seems to have more to do with curiosity or an eagerness to acquire knowledge and is a related word to inquiry.  While they are similar, someone who inquisitive might be more prone to asking questions to learn information, while someone who is disquisitive might be more prone to do the research on their own, and then discuss the results (often with those who are inquisitive)
  A related word, 'inquire', is usually used when asking questions - and not usually when someone seeks out the answer on their own or is involved in a discussion about it (unless the initial inquiry invokes further discourse and debate - then it could be a disquisition)

Disquisitive comes from the latin quærere - to ask, seek or gain.  In this case, it is to ask, seek, or gain knowledge.  'Quærere' is also related to the latin word  that form the basis of the word 'quest'.

Originally it seemed as though between 'disquisitive' and 'inquisitive' that it might have been prefix based - but I could not find information that made sense with that in mind.  'In-' words tend to imply into, towards, or within - it could be implied that 'inquisitiveness' invokes ones need to investigate or inquire.  The 'dis-' prefix did not make sense in this context.
The word seems similar to the word 'discuss' and the definition also seems similar, and I discovered that 'discuss' comes from 'discutere' which domes from 'dis-' ('apart') and 'quatere' ('to shake').  There is a vague, but interesting, similarity to the words 'quatere' and 'quærere' that could suggest a further relation further back in the etymology that is beyond my means to research.


While I am not nearly as well educated as the character of Dr. Brennan, I do share her disquisitive nature, and her tendency to explain rationally.  I also prefer logic over emotion - and in a lot of ways I somewhat identify with this character, which is one of the reasons I like this show.  It's somewhat interesting how I can often follow what is being said - even before they put it into "layman's terms" for the benefit of Agent Booth (and their viewing audience.)