Etymologically
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chiunque

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Pronunciation

  • /kiˈun.kwe/[1]

Forms

chiunque (pronoun, invariable, singular only)[2][3][4] Older forms include Old Italian chiunche, Old Italian chiunca, Old Italian chiunqua and Old Italian cheunque.[4][5][6]

Etymology

It is a compound from Italian chi (“who”) + -unque (“-ever”).[7][8][1] DELI and most dictionaries trace it to Latin quī (“who”) and umquam (“ever, at any time”).[9][4][3][10][6] Nocentini sees a Romance formation in which the second element blends umquam with -cumque, the ending of Latin indefinite pronouns;[11][2] Sabatini adds that the final ⟨-e⟩ was remade on the Latin forms in that ending.[11][2] Prati, after Meyer-Lübke and Bartoli, reconstructs a popular form Vulgar Latin *quiunquam beside classical Latin quīcumque (“whoever”), and Wiktionary compares French quiconque.[12][1]

The Latin pronoun goes back to Proto-Italic *kʷoi and Proto-Indo-European *kʷos.[1][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

Zingarelli dates the word to before 1250, and DELI to Brunetto Latini, before 1294, with the sense “any person”.[4][9][7] In Dante's Purgatorio Manfred begins: “Chiunque / tu se', così andando volgi il viso” (whoever you are, turn your face as you go).[14]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian several variants were in use (chiunche, chiunca, chiunqua), and Pietro Bembo set chiunque, for persons, against cheunque, for things.[6][14] It could take a preposition, as in Boccaccio's description of the plague: “A chiunque usciva il sangue dal naso” (anyone whose nose bled).[15]

It has no plural and serves for both genders; a verb after it is usually in the subjunctive.[3][2] It works both as an indefinite pronoun, “anyone”, and as a relative pronoun, “whoever”, which links a main clause to a dependent one.[7][8][2]

Timeline

  • Before 1250 – Chiunque is first recorded.[4]
  • Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses it for “any person”.[9]
  • 14th century – The variants chiunche, chiunca and chiunqua are in use.[6]

Meanings

Pronoun

  1. (indefinite) anyone, anybody: Questo esercizio lo sa risolvere chiunque.[7][8][2][4][1]
  2. chiunque altro: anyone else: Chiunque altro si sarebbe offeso.[8][2]
  3. (relative) whoever, any person who: Chiunque arrivi per ultimo chiude la porta.[7][8][4][3][1]

Usage notes

With the verb essere and a plural pronoun it can agree in the plural.[8] Followed by di, it picks one out of a group: chiunque di voi.[7][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  3. ^ a b c d e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  5. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  6. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 912
  7. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  8. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  9. ^ a b c Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  10. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  11. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  12. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 281
  13. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  14. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 3, 97
  15. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET, p. 1, 1407