nequaquam

Forms

nēquāquam (not comparable)^[1]

Etymology

The OLD forms it from the negative nē and the feminine ablative singular of quisquam (“anyone”),^[2] Lewis and Short from ⟨nec⟩ and ⟨quāquam⟩.^[3] The TLL analyses ⟨quā⟩ as an old instrumental of the pronoun stem Proto-Indo-European *kʷo-, compared with ⟨πη-⟩ in Ancient Greek πηνίκα (pēníka, “when?”), and ⟨quam⟩ as ⟨quā⟩ with a suffix ⟨*-m⟩.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis and Short quote it from Plautus, “the reckoning of the money by no means tallies”, as well as Ennius;^[3] Köbler gives Cicero.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It is a strong negative, by no means or not at all.^[2][3][1] Döderlein distinguishes neutiquam, in no case, from nēquāquam, by no means, and minimē, not in the least.^[6]

Church Latin glosses it “no, not, by no means, in no way”.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of an account that does not tally.^[3][5]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius, quoted by Cicero.^[3][5]
• 81–43 BC – Common in Cicero.^[5]

Meanings

Adverb

1. By no means, not at all, in no way.^[2][3][1][7]

Related words

• neutiquam
• minimē
• nēquīquam
• quisquam

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ 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. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson