Vestigare

Vestigare is a Latin verb of the first conjugation meaning to track, follow, search for, pursue, trace, or investigate. It is derived from vestigium, meaning a trace or footprint, with the typical -are infinitive ending. The word is used in contexts where someone traces a path, pursues a suspect, or seeks information.

In Classical Latin, vestigare appears in hunting, legal, and investigative contexts, both literal and figurative. A hunter might vestigare the trail of game, a magistrate vestigare evidence, or a scholar vestigare the origins of an argument. As with other first-conjugation verbs, its exact forms follow the standard patterns of the conjugation, with variations across authors and periods.

Etymology and cognates: vestigium means trace or footprint, and the root vestig- appears in related words such as vestigium and vestigial, as well as in vestigare itself. The concept of tracing or following a clue is central to the related Latin verb investigare, and the English verb investigate ultimately derives from Latin investigare through later Latin and Romance-language forms.

See also: vestigium; vestigial; investigatio; investigare; Latin verbs of the first conjugation.