quien

Forms

quien (relative pronoun, plural quienes or (proscribed, when not modifying a verb) quien)^[1] Old Spanish also had qui, from the Latin nominative, which was in general use until the 13th century (the Cid, Berceo, Apolonio, Alexandre) and still appears in El conde Lucanor.^[2] Quien was invariable in the Middle Ages; the plural quienes is first found in the first half of the 16th century and was still resisted in the 17th.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin quem, the accusative of the interrogative pronoun quis (“who?”), which was treated as a stressed word.^[2][3][1] The unstressed relative que comes from the same accusative, which lost its final consonant in proclitic position and did not diphthongise.^[2] The DLE describes the Latin form as the accusative of the relative quī.^[4] The same accusative is Portuguese quem.^[5]

The Latin pronoun goes back to *kʷis and Proto-Indo-European *kʷis, whose accusative was *kʷim.^[6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the first record to the earliest texts, the Glosas Emilianenses; the BDELC dates it to about 950.^[2][3] The Cantar de mio Cid uses quien as a relative, both as subject and object, and as an interrogative.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's prose already has the three uses of the word: relative, interrogative and indefinite (non era quin ge los partisse “there was nobody to share it among them”).^[8] Since quien had no plural, Golden Age writers used it with plural antecedents;^[9] Cervantes wrote a quien for a quienes.^[9] Autoridades still called it an adjective, “the same as cual”, used mostly in questions, and gave the distributive use quién se fue a su casa, quién a la plaza.^[10][11]

The Academy's 1869 dictionary was the first to call it a relative pronoun.^[12] Modern grammar restricts the relative quien to persons, and allows it without a preposition only in explanatory clauses.^[4][13] The compound quienquiera (Nebrija) continues Old Spanish quienquier (Juan Ruiz).^[2]

Timeline

• c. 950 – first record, in the Glosas Emilianenses.^[2][3]
• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid uses it as relative and interrogative.^[7]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario has the relative por quien.^[8]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin quis and qui, quae, quod.^[14]
• first half of the 16th century – the plural quienes appears.^[2]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades defines it as an adjective equivalent to cual.^[10]
• 1869 – the Academy classes it as a relative pronoun.^[12]
• 1917 – Alemany gives the etymology from quem, the accusative of qui.^[15]

Meanings

Pronoun

1. (relative) who, whom: referring to a person already mentioned: la profesora con quien hablaste.^[4][1]
2. (relative, without antecedent) The one who, whoever: Quien llegue primero abrirá la puerta.^[4][1]
3. (relative, after a negated verb, mostly with tener or haber) Anyone who, nobody who: No hay quien lo convenza.^[4]

Word family

• quienquiera

Related words

• que
• qué
• cuyo
• Latin quis
• Portuguese quem

Usage notes

Written with an accent, quién is the interrogative and exclamative pronoun (¿Quién llama?, ¡Quién lo hubiera dicho!), and in the formula quién… quién it means “some… others”.^[16][13] Set phrases include quien más, quien menos “everyone to some extent” and cada quien “each one”.^[4][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. que
3. ^ a b c d 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 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. quien
5. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 5354
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b Menéndez Pidal, Ramón (1908–1911), Cantar de Mio Cid: texto, gramática y vocabulario, 3 vols., Madrid: Bailly-Baillière, p. 407
8. ^ a b Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. quien
9. ^ a b Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1905–1906), La lengua de Cervantes: gramática y diccionario de la lengua castellana en El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha, 2 vols., Madrid: Jaime Ratés, p. 932
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 469
11. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 722
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 649
13. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. quien
14. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 403
15. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 1400
16. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. quien