An asking held open until answered. A question that stops being asked has become a ruling.
Latin quaestio (a seeking, an inquiry, a judicial examination), from quaerere (to seek, to ask); a question is, by its own root, an inquiry held open rather than a statement made.
An asking held open until it is answered. The root's inquiry has no built-in ending — a question that stops being asked has quietly become something else, a ruling wearing the shape of a question.