Etymologically
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aliqui

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈa.lɪ.kʷiː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈaː.li.kʷi][1]

Forms

aliquī or aliquei or aliquis (feminine aliqua, neuter aliquod); indeclinable portion with a relative/interrogative determiner[1] The feminine singular is aliqua, older aliquae (Lucilius, Lucretius); Cicero has the genitive aliquoius and Terence the dative aliquoi.[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from ali- (“some-”), the stem of alius (“other”), and quī (“which”).[1][2][4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it in Plautus and Cato.[4] Plautus has sī nōn fēcerō eī male aliquō pactō, “if I don't do him harm in some way”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Aliquī is the adjective “some, some … or other” (Terence: licence ends in aliquod magnum malum, “in some great trouble”), “a sort of” when apologizing for a metaphor, and after a negative or sī “any at all”.[2][3][1] It is “some amount of” (Plautus: aliquō auxiliō), in the plural “a few”, and emphatically “some real” (Cicero: is there any art of speaking?).[2] It also means “a certain, a particular”, aliquō tempore “once”, “some other”, “one or other”, and with numbers “about, some” (Plautus: aliquōs vīgintī diēs, “some twenty days”).[2]

Its masculine aliquī and neuter aliquod are also used as pronouns, “somebody, something”, and an adverb aliquī means “in some way”.[2][1] Church Latin glosses it “some, any”.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: aliquō pactō.[2][4]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses it.[4]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence: in aliquod magnum malum.[2][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero: artem aliquam esse dīcendī.[2][4]

Meanings

Determiner

  1. Some, some … or other, (after a negative or sī) any.[2][3][1][5]
  2. Some amount of, (plural) a few.[2]
  3. Some real, of some account.[2]
  4. A certain, a particular; some other; one or other.[2]
  5. (with numerals) About, some.[2]

Pronoun

  1. Somebody, someone; something.[2][1]

Word family

  • aliquamdiū
  • aliquodfāriam

Usage notes

Aliquī is the adjective and aliquis the pronoun, but the two differ only in the masculine nominative singular and the neuter nominative and accusative.[2][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson