nequiquam

Forms

nēquīquam (not comparable)^[1] It is also spelled nēquicquam and necquicquam.^[2] Lewis and Short prefer nēquīquam, the spelling of the best manuscripts.^[3]

Etymology

It is formed from nē (“not”) and ⟨quīquam⟩, an old ablative of quisquam (“anyone, anything”): “by nothing”; compare nēquāquam (“by no means”).^[2][4] De Vaan explains such ablatives in ⟨quī⟩ as an old instrumental.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus, Amphitruo: vēra dīcō, sed nēquīquam, quoniam nōn vīs crēdere, “I tell the truth, but in vain, since you won't believe”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It means to no purpose, in vain, and, often in litotes, without cause or groundlessly: “not for nothing have I become a soldier”.^[2] A passage in Varro may show it in the sense “by no means”.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus in the sense “in vain”.^[2][4]

Meanings

Adverb

1. In vain, to no purpose, uselessly.^[2][1]
2. Without cause, groundlessly.^[2][1]

Related words

• quisquam
• nēquāquam
• frūstrā

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes frūstrā, “in vain” with regard to the person whose hopes were disappointed, from nēquīquam, which looks at the nothing the thing came to; neither blames anyone, while incassum adds that the failure could have been foreseen.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper