percontor

Percontor is a Latin deponent verb meaning to inquire, question, or investigate. It belongs to the first conjugation and is used with passive morphology while carrying an active meaning. The principal parts are percontor, percontari, percontatus sum. As a deponent, its forms appear in the passive in most tenses but translate actively: present percontor, percontaris, percontatur, percontamur, percontamini, percontantur; imperfect percontabar, percontabaris, percontabatur, percontabamur, percontabamini, percontabantur; future percontabor, percontaberis, percontabitur, percontabimur, percontabimini, percontabuntur. The perfect is percontatus sum, with pluperfect percontatus eram and future perfect percontatus ero.

Usage typically involves taking a direct object in the accusative or a subordinate clause to specify what is being inquired about. For example, percontari aliquid means “to inquire about something,” and percontatus est quid fecisset means “he inquired what he had done.” The sense can emphasize thorough questioning or investigation, rather than casual asking.

Etymology is not always lucid in Latin grammars; percontor is treated as a standard 1st-conjugation deponent. Related derivatives include percontatio, the act of questioning, and percontator, an inquirer or questioner. In classical Latin, the verb appears in prose and oratory as a deliberate, methodical form of inquiry, and it is primarily of interest in Latin grammar, lexicography, and historical texts.