*prek-

The core idea of this root was:

asking, pleading

The German fragen is on the more neutral side, as are the Slavic children of this root which are also about asking. The English to pray shifted toward a very “intense” and specific pleading.
German forschen (to do research) is more proactive, but at the core of it is also a question.

The Latin branch shifted a bit toward the idea of depending on the will of someone else. In English, this then shifted toward uncertain, risky, dangerous That’s where precarious and deprecate are from.