inquisitiveness

[English inquisitive; -ne .] The quality or state of being inquisitive; curiosity; a disposition to seek for information; anxiety in research. *in-quiş-i-tör, s . [Lat.] *I. Ordinary Language : 1. One who searches for a suspected person; a tracker, a detective. 2. One who examines judicially. 3. An inquisitive person. II. Ch . Hist .: A person appointed to search out latent heresy. The name first appears in the Theodosian Code, A. D. 382; their search being chiefly directed against the Manichæans. During the cru sade against the Albigenses, early in the thirteenth century, Innocent III. had sent out legates to search out and punish these separatists. These were also called inquisitors. Dominic was one of them, whence arose the opinion that he was the first high functionary of the tribunal called the Inquisition. Specif., a functionary of the ecclesiastical tribunal called the Holy Office of the Inquisi tion (q. v.).