disquisition

noun

Etymology: Borrowed from French disquisition (“disquisition”), from Latin disquīsītiō (“inquiry, investigation”), from disquīrō (“to investigate”) (from dis- (prefix meaning ‘apart, asunder’) + quaerō (“to look for, seek; to inquire, question”)) + -tiō (suffix forming nouns relating to an action or the result of an action).

1. A methodical inquiry or investigation.

   “Near-synonym: inquisition”

   “Upon the subject of leases, as I wish to avoid all disquisitions which concern the kingdom at large, as much as the county of Lincoln in particular, it will be necessary only to remark, that great as have been improvements in it, I have not the least doubt they would have been much greater and more rapid, had the custom of granting leases been as common here as it is in Norfolk or Suffolk.”

2. A lengthy, formal discourse that analyses or explains some topic; (loosely) a dissertation or treatise.

   “Upon this account political diſquiſitions, if juſt, and reasonable, and practicable, are of all the works of ſpeculation the most uſeful.”

   “It is only by considering the distance to which large quantities of these commodities are carried, […] that we can form any idea of the magnitude of the trade with India by land, and are led to perceive, that in a Disquisition concerning the various modes of conducting this commerce, it is well entitled to the attention which I have bestowed in endeavouring to trace it.”