quaestor

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   an ancient Roman magistrate chiefly responsible for public revenue, accounts, and financial administration

   After his election as quaestor, Cicero was assigned to oversee finances in Sicily.

2. 2
   noun

   in the later Roman and Byzantine empires, a senior official with legislative or judicial duties, especially the quaestor of the sacred palace

   The emperor asked the quaestor to prepare the legal wording of the decree.

From Middle English questor, borrowed from Latin quaestor. The Roman title is traditionally connected with quaerere, 'to seek or inquire', plus an agent suffix, although its earliest institutional history is complex. Financial administration became the office's defining republican function.

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