Etymologically
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nonnumquam

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [noːnˈnʊŋ.kʷãː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [nonˈnuŋ.kʷam][1]

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]

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