disc▪ Dictionaries are not clear about where vbs. V and X belong. Some group them under QRW, others under QRY, yet others show a doubling.
▪ EtymArab follows Wehr (and the majority of ClassAr dictionaries) in making the item dependent on ↗QRW_3 ‘to approach s.o.; to betake o.s., wend o.’s way, turn to’, as attested in ClassAr †qarā, u (qarw) ‘to tend to, go to; travel from one country to another; follow up a thing with perseverance’ and vb. VIII †ĭqtarà ‘to strive after with perseverance’.
▪ However, semantics would not exclude a derivation from ↗QRY_2 ‘village, small town’ (↗qaryaẗ) or ↗QRY_4 ‘to flow together; place where water (or juice etc.) flows together; bassin, reservoir, pool, etc.’ (both ultimately from a WSem *QR or *QRY ‘to come together, meet’). If from qaryaẗ, the original meaning would be ‘to travel from one settlement to another, strive the country for places’, perhaps in search of a place where one might be received hospitably (↗QRY_1). If from ‘to flow together’, it would be derived as ‘to strive the country in search of places where water collects’.