aliquo

Forms

aliquō (adverb, not comparable)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from ⟨ali-⟩ “some-” and quō (“whither”),^[2][1] beside aliquis (“someone”).^[3] The second part belongs to the pronoun quis (“who”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Indo-European *kʷis.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Plautus,^[5] in whom someone is told to remove a woman to some place out of the city, ut aliquo ex urbe amoveas.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It means to some place, somewhere or other:^[3] in the Rudens someone wonders whether to hire himself out somewhere as a Manducus at the games.^[3] It also means in some direction, as in Seneca's “whenever the neck is bent in some direction”,^[3] and figuratively towards some course or goal: Cicero says studies are of no use for getting anywhere.^[3] Priscian lists it among the indefinite adverbs; it is not used in answer to “where?”.^[2] Ulpian, however, has it of place, nē aliquō locī morētur, “that he should not stay anywhere”,^[3] and Seneca once, by a conjecture, of manner, in some way.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of removing someone from the city.^[3][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero, of getting somewhere.^[3][5]
• before 223 AD – Ulpian, of place, “anywhere”.^[3][5]

Meanings

Adverb

1. To some place, somewhere or other, somewhither;^[3][1] in some direction;^[3] to some person.^[3]
2. (figurative) To some end or course of action.^[3]
3. In some place, anywhere.^[3][2]
4. In some way, somehow.^[3]

Related words

• aliquis
• quō
• aliquā

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ 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
4. ^ 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