Etymologically
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haudquaquam

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [hau̯kˈkʷaː.kʷãː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [au̯dˈkʷaː.kʷam][1]

Forms

haudquāquam (adverb; not comparable)[2] It is also spelled hauquāquam and written separately.[2][1]

Etymology

It is from Latin haud (“not”) + quāquam (“in any way”), the second part being the ablative feminine of quisquam (“anyone”).[2][3][1] De Vaan calls the origin of haud uncertain; he reports Eichner's proposal of an adjective meaning false or lacking, perhaps Proto-Indo-European *gʰou̯-i-dʰó-, which would be related to Old Irish gáu (“falsehood”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it first in Ennius.[3][5] Accius has a man of no mean birth, a line Cicero quotes.[3]

Semantic evolution

It means by no means, not at all, and the TLL equates it with nēquāquam and neutiquam.[3][2] It mostly denies an adjective or adverb: Sallust writes that by no means equal glory follows the writer and the doer of deeds.[3] The TLL finds it in Terence, Accius, Lucretius, Sallust, Virgil, Curtius, Tacitus and Gellius, often in Livy; in Cicero's De oratore only in the speeches of Catulus and Scaevola.[3] Some manuscripts spell it ⟨hautquāquam⟩.[3]

Timeline

  • 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it.[3][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero has it three times in De oratore.[3][5]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it often.[3][5]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. By no means, not at all, in no way.[2][3][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  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