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aliquot

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word aliquot

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
190–159 BC, Terence
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*kʷóti)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin quot
Latin quotiens
Latin aliquot

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈa.lɪ.kʷɔt][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈaː.li.kʷot][1]

Forms

aliquot (indeclinable)[1] It is also spelled aliquod.[2]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin ali- + quot (“how many”), with ⟨ali-⟩ as in alius (“other”) and aliquis (“someone”).[2][3][1] De Vaan derives ⟨quot⟩ from Proto-Italic *kʷoti and Proto-Indo-European *kʷóti (“how many”), cognate with Sanskrit कति (káti, “how many”) and Ancient Greek πόσος (pósos, “how great, how many”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first examples in the OLD and the TLL are from Terence, as aliquot hōs diēs, “these several days”, and aliquot mē adiērunt, “several people came to me”;[2][5][6] Köbler gives Cicero.[2][5][6]

Semantic evolution

It is an indeclinable “some, several, a number of”, as Cato's and Varro's “several days”, and as a noun “several people”.[2][5][3] Church Latin glosses it “some, several, a few”.[7]

Timeline

  • 190–159 BC – Terence has aliquot hōs diēs.[5][6]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato.[5][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero.[6]

Meanings

Determiner

  1. A number of, several, some.[2][3][1]
  2. (as a noun) Several people, a number.[2]

Word family

  • aliquotiēns

Usage notes

Lewis and Short note that it leaves the number undefined, “some, several, not many”, while nōnnūllī marks an indeterminate selection out of a larger group.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon 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 e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
Cite this entry

“Aliquot.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/aliquot. Accessed 19 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·