RHETORIC

• "To beg the question" does not mean "to raise the question"; it is the name of a logical fallacy. The phrase "begging the question", or "petitio principii" in Latin, refers to the "question" in a formal debate—that is, the issue being debated. In such a debate, one side may ask the other side to concede certain points in order to speed up the proceedings. To "beg" the question is to ask that the very point at issue be conceded, which is of course illegitimate.  (Source, one of many, is this link: http://www.skepdic.com/begging.html)