nonnumquam

Forms

nōnnumquam (not comparable)^[1] It is also spelled nōnnunquam, and often written separately.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin nōn (“not”) + numquam (“never”), written as one word.^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero,^[4] who opposes it to numquam in the speech against Vatinius.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It means on various occasions, sometimes.^[2] Cicero pairs it with aliquando, and Caesar contrasts it with saepius: the enemy tried to break through sometimes by day, more often by night.^[3] Church Latin keeps the sense sometimes.^[5]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero in the sense sometimes.^[3][4]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar contrasting it with “more often”.^[3][4]

Meanings

Adverb

1. On various occasions, sometimes.^[2][3][5][1]

Related words

• nōn

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson