1. to investigate, research (sounds very scientific and thorough. Implies a result (unlike "forschen" which is about the process))
Meanings
Word Family
Root: *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.
