Inquest, quest, and question all come from Latin "to seek" — and the most famous inquest in history was William the Conqueror's Domesday Book survey of all England.
A formal investigation, especially one held by a coroner into the cause of death; any systematic inquiry into facts or circumstances.
From Anglo-Norman enqueste, from Old French enqueste (investigation, inquiry), from Vulgar Latin *inquaesita (things inquired into), feminine past participle of Latin inquīrere (to search into, to investigate), from in- (into) + quaerere (to seek, to ask). Key roots: quaerere (Latin: "to seek, to ask, to inquire").
The most famous inquest in English history may be the Domesday Book of 1086, which William the Conqueror commissioned as a massive nationwide inquest into who owned what land and what it was worth. The word inquest shares its root with quest, question, query, and require — all from Latin quaerere (to seek). Coroners' inquests, the most common modern usage, date to 1194, when the office of coroner was established