Etymology: Represents two Old French words: (1) conquest (now conquêt ), masculine < Latin type *conquaestum (compare Provençal conquist , Italian conquisto ), medieval Latin conquestum , conquistum , for Latin conquīsītum , neuter of past participle of conquīrĕre (see conquer v.); (2) Old French conqueste (now conquête), feminine = Provençal conquesta, Spanish conquesta, conquista, Italian conquesta, conquista, medieval Latin conquesta, conquista, feminine noun from the past participle (parallel to nouns in -ata, -ade, -ée). The latter of these expressed the action, the former the proceeds of acquiring or conquering. Compare acquest, Old French aquest, but inquest, request, Old French enqueste, requeste. Conquêt, conquête are still distinct in French, but in English, through loss of final -e and of grammatical gender, the two forms ran together at an early date. The original sense in medieval Latin and French was ‘acquisition, esp. as the result of effort’; including getting by force of arms as well as by other means. Hence two lines of development: first, with the feudal jurists ‘personal acquisition of estate, as opposed to inheritance’, without specific reference to the mode, whether by force of arms, by grant, or (in later times) by money, called purchase n. in English Law; secondly, ‘acquisition by force of arms, military conquest’. The latter of these is by far the earlier in English, and has always been (with its transferred uses) the only popular sense. The general sense of acquisition and esp. the legal sense as opposed to inheritance, is chiefly Scottish and prominent in Scots law.

Etymology: Form-history doubtful: it may have directly represented medieval Latin conquaestus , conquistus , past participle of conquaerĕre , conquīrĕre (see conquer v.); but more probably it was a shortening of conquested , past participle of conquest v. (compare lighted, lit, committed, commit, etc.); this is corroborated by the occurrence of the same form as past tense. In Scots conquest was analysed as conques + t , and treated as past participle and past tense of conques v., beside conquess-ed, -it. In this capacity it was also spelt conqueist, conqueast, conquist, by conformation to the verb, under which these forms will be found.

Etymology: < Old French conquester (still in Cotgrave) < late Latin type *conquæstāre , < conquæsītāre ; also Old French conquister , -quiter , compare Italian conquistare , Spanish conquistar , Portuguese conquistar , medieval Latin conquæst- , conquistāre < Latin type *conquīsītāre , frequentative of conquīrĕre : see conquer v., and compare acquist v.