Etymologically
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num

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈnũː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈnum][1]

Forms

num (not comparable)[1] Num quis, num quandō and the like are also written as one word.[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *num (“now”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *nu (“now”), first meaning “now”, as it still does in etiamnum; nunc (from ⟨*num-ce⟩) and nūper belong to the same adverb.[3][2][1][4] De Vaan explains the final ⟨-m⟩ either from a PIE ⟨*-n⟩ or as a remodelling of ⟨*nun⟩ after nam.[3] The OLD compares the similar shift in Hittite kinun (“now”).[2]

Cognate with Sanskrit नूनम् (nūnám, “now, indeed”), Hittite nu (“and, but”) and Old Persian nūram (“now”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Naevius.[3][4] Terence has vīse … num sit, “go and see whether she is there”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Num introduces a direct question in which the speaker fears or doubts a positive answer, and especially rhetorical questions that demand the answer “no” (“surely not…?”).[2][5][1] In indirect questions it means “whether (by any chance)”.[2][5][1] The old sense “now” survives only in etiam num.[1]

Church Latin uses it, like numquid, for questions expecting a negative answer, and for “if, whether”.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 235–200 BC – Used by Naevius.[3][4]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence: vīse … num sit.[2][4]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. (in direct questions expecting “no”) Surely not?, can it be that…?[2][5][1][6]
  2. (in indirect questions) whether.[2][5][1][6]
  3. (in etiam num) Now.[1]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson