qué

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin quid (“what?”), the neuter of the interrogative pronoun quis (“who?”).^[2][3][4][1] The unstressed que partly shares this origin: as a conjunction it continues the same Latin neuter, which took over the uses of quod in Vulgar Latin, while the relative pronoun continues the masculine accusative.^[2]

Besides the neuter pronoun, the Spanish interrogative also became an adjective for both genders, an innovation shared with Portuguese and Italian.^[2] Cognates are Portuguese que, Catalan què, French quoi, Italian che and Romanian ce.^[5][6][7]

The Latin form goes back to Proto-Italic *kʷid and Proto-Indo-European *kʷid (“what; something”).^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas and Menéndez Pidal find the interrogative, referring to things, in the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy).^[2][3][9]

Semantic evolution

Nebrija's vocabulary translates que cosa by Latin quid.^[10][11] Covarrubias calls it an interrogative or relative particle.^[12] The Autoridades records it as a noun meaning “something”, mostly in questions, and as an exclamative particle that exaggerates, quoting a long run of exclamations from Calderón: ¡Qué cuarto! ¡qué galerías!^[13] The Academy's 1884 edition describes its use before a noun, adjective or adverb to express quality or quantity, and qué de “how many”.^[14]

In some modern speech the interrogative becomes unstressed after a preposition (¿pá que? in Cespedosa, ¿dé que? in popular Argentine speech).^[2] In nonstandard Spanish of Spain it may stand for other interrogatives such as cómo or cuándo.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid has the interrogative pronoun.^[2][3]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija's Vocabulario.^[10]
• 1611 – Covarrubias derives it from Latin quis or qui.^[12]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades records the exclamative use.^[13]
• 1884 – the Academy describes qué de with a noun.^[14]

Meanings

Determiner

1. (interrogative) which, what: asks which person or thing of a known set is meant: ¿Qué camisa te vas a poner?^[4][1]
2. (interrogative) What kind of: ¿Qué música escuchas?^[4]
3. (interrogative) How much, with mass nouns: No sé qué altura tiene la torre.^[4]
4. (exclamative) What (a), such: praises or blames the qualities of the noun: ¡Qué casa!^[4][1]
5. (exclamative) How much: ¡Qué frío tengo!^[4]

Pronoun

1. (interrogative) What: ¿Qué buscas?^[4][1]
2. (interrogative) How much, with verbs of measure such as costar or pesar: ¿Qué cuesta el billete?^[4]
3. (exclamative) With de, how many, how much: ¡Qué de libros!^[4]

Adverb

1. (exclamative) How, before an adjective or adverb: ¡Qué lejos queda!^[4][1]

Interjection

1. Expresses denial or emphasis, or surprise: ¡Qué! ¿No lo sabías?^[4][1]

Related words

• que
• quién
• cuyo
• quid
• Catalan què

Usage notes

The written accent distinguishes the interrogative and exclamative qué from the relative pronoun and conjunction que.^[15][4] Common phrases are ¿y qué? “so what?” and pues qué.^[4][16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 703
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. qué
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. qué
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 6, 907
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. quoi
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ Menéndez Pidal, Ramón (1908–1911), Cantar de Mio Cid: texto, gramática y vocabulario, 3 vols., Madrid: Bailly-Baillière, p. 335
10. ^ a b Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv, p. s.v. qué
11. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 403
12. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1240
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 457
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 885
15. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. que
16. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. qué