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aliquis

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈa.lɪ.kʷɪs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈaː.li.kʷis][1]

Forms

aliquis or aliquī (feminine aliqua, neuter aliquid); indefinite pronoun[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ali- + quis, from the stem of alius (“other”) and the indefinite quis (“anyone”).[2][1][3] De Vaan explains ⟨ali-⟩ as either cut from “alius” or a rapid-speech form of ⟨*alie-quis⟩.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on;[4][5] the OLD's first citation is from Ennius, who says that “someone” once judged a famous contest among three goddesses.[2]

Semantic evolution

Aliquis means “someone, anyone” and in the neuter aliquid “something”; in the plural “some, a few”.[2][6] It can stress that there is someone rather than no one, point to a particular but unnamed person, mean “somebody of importance” (sē aliquem putat “he thinks he is somebody”), and “someone else”.[2] Est aliquid with an infinitive means “it is something to …”.[2]

It lives on in Spanish alguien and algo.[3]

Timeline

  • 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it of an unnamed judge.[2][5]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: opperiāmur dum exeat aliquis “let's wait for someone to come out”.[2][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero asks his friend to want him to be aliquem, somebody.[2][5]

Meanings

Pronoun

  1. someone, anyone;[2][6] (neuter aliquid) something, anything.[2][6]
  2. (plural) Some, a few.[2]
  3. A certain person (unnamed).[2]
  4. Somebody of importance; something worth while.[2]
  5. Someone else.[2][1]
  6. (adjective) Some, any.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press