Etymologically
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atqui

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈat.kʷiː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈat.kʷi][1]

Forms

atquī [1] It is also spelled atquīn, which Lewis & Short call post-classical; manuscripts sometimes have adquī.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is from Latin at (“but”) + quī (“how, somehow”), here an adverb.[2][4][1][5] The TLL notes that in Plautus the particles have not yet fully grown together (⟨at pol quī⟩).[4] De Vaan traces at to Proto-Italic *ati and Proto-Indo-European *h₂et(i) (“back, away”), cognate with Ancient Greek ἀτάρ (atár, “but”).[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus,[6][5] who uses it to open a reply: numquam auferēs hinc aurum. — atquī iam dabis, “you'll never get the gold from here. — But you'll give it in a moment”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Atquī introduces an objection to what has just been said, “but, and yet, nevertheless”, especially at the start of a reply in dialogue.[2][3] It also introduces a statement that goes the other way without contradicting, “but all the same”, and in philosophical argument it marks the minor premiss of a syllogism, “now, but” (Cicero).[2]

Church Latin glosses it “however, but, nevertheless”.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: atquī iam dabis.[2][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it in a syllogism.[2][5]

Meanings

Conjunction

  1. But, and yet, nevertheless.[2][3][1][7]
  2. But all the same, still.[2][1]
  3. (logic) Now (introducing the minor premiss of a syllogism).[2]

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