the.com/begging the question

means A logical fallacy where the conclusion is smuggled into the premise, so the argument proves nothing — it just restates itself in a circle.

from The phrase translates the Latin 'petitio principii,' itself a rendering of a term from Aristotle's logic meaning roughly 'assuming the starting point.' 'Petitio' was mistranslated into English as 'begging' (as in 'requesting'), giving us the odd image of an argument that 'begs' — asks you to simply grant — the very point it's supposed to prove. The modern casual use, where people say it to mean 'this raises the question,' is a popular but logically unrelated drift from the original technical meaning — language slipping its own leash.