bequest

Origin

From Middle English biqueste, bequeste (“will, testament, bequest”), from be- + quiste, queste (“saying, utterance, testament, will, legacy”), from Old English *cwist, *cwiss (“saying”) (compare Old English andcwiss, ġecwis, uncwisse, etc.), from Proto-Germanic *kwissiz (“saying”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷet- (“to say”). Related to Old English andcwiss (“answer, reply”), Old English uncwisse (“dumb, mute”), Middle English bequethen (“to bequeath”). Not related to quest, which is from Latin. More at quoth, bequeath.