# Search for (object)



## raptor

Hello,

I'm trying to use the phrase 'the search for peace' but I'm not sure if a preposition like 'for' is required in the translation, or what case to put 'peace' in.  Also I'm having some trouble finding the form of the verb to search 'scrutere' which is the noun '(the/a) search.'

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers!


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## Schimmelreiter

What kind of context is the phrase _the search for peace _supposed to be used in? 

E.g. 

_The search for peace is always necessary. - Pax semper petenda est.
_
_He was dedicated to the search for peace. - Se dedidit paci petendae._


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## raptor

Since the first sentence you gave has the phrase as a topic, that would be closer to what I'm looking for.  However I'm really just using it as a phrase by itself, without other material (it's a title for a chapter of a book I'm working on).

Also, 'petendus' is a bit strong for this context - I like 'scrutare' for its connotations of exploring, investigating, examining, and searching something thoroughly.  Is there not a noun form of this verb?


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## Schimmelreiter

The noun is _scrutatio_, from the deponent _scrutari_, hence _scrutatio pacis._ Of course it's not


raptor said:


> the search *for* peace


It's the _*scrutiny* *of* peace._


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## raptor

So then the object peace is a passive object and not the goal of the searching?


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## Schimmelreiter

Yes. _scrutari pacem - to scrutinise peace. _Both have been English words since 1066 anyway. 



Now I've got the word for you:
_inquisitio pacis_
This one is ambiguous: _search for _plus _examination of_


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## raptor

That could work, thanks!

Ideally I'm trying to say that it is the result of (due to, out of) searching that peace can be achieved.

Is there a way of saying 'peace through searching,' along the lines of 'pax ab scrutante' or 'pax ab inquisitone'? (I know this isn't in the right form, but can't find how to do a progressive inflection...)


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## bearded

May I suggest _pax fructus inquisitionis
_(although I don't particularly like the word 'inquisitio' because it reminds of the Spanish Inquisition...)


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## Outsider

How about _quaere_ as the translation for "searching", "search"?


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## wandle

raptor said:


> Ideally I'm trying to say that it is the result of (due to, out of) searching that peace can be achieved.


 In what sense, may I ask? 'The search for peace', like 'the peace process', is a modern journalistic shorthand phrase for efforts by third parties to bring warring groups to agreement (without surrender). Is that what you mean?

To a Roman, _*pacem quaerere*_ would mean that side A in the conflict was asking side B what terms they would agree to: meaning that side A was preparing to surrender. 
To express 'the search for peace' (as we usually understand the phrase), I would say the idea behind it needs to be made explicit. 

'To bring about peace between contending parties' could be, for example: *pacem inter adversos componere* or *conciliare*. 

The pursuit of such a result could be described as: _*conatus pacis inter hostes componendae*_: 'the attempt to bring about peace between enemies'. In this phrase, *conatus* is a noun (4th declension, nominative case).


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## Outsider

In Late Antiquity the word *concordia* seems to havee been used in a sense that might work as a loose translation for "the search for peace"...


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## wandle

Certainly *concordia* (an agreeing together, or harmony, of different elements) could, like _*pax*_, express the result of such a process; but some additional word or phrase is still needed to express the idea of searching, the process itself (the seeking to bring about _*pax*_ or *concordia*). 

For example, Titus Livius (Livy), The History of Rome, Book 2  says:

*agi deinde de concordia coeptum, concessumque in condiciones ut plebi sui magistratus essent sacrosancti ...*

*agi deinde de concordia coeptum* means 'negotiations for an agreed settlement then began': here it is the infinitive _*agi*_ which expresses the idea of negotiation.

That was a case where the negotiations were directly between the contending parties, with no mediator.


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