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nusquam

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word nusquam

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Latin (ne-,usquam)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin usquam
Latin nusquam

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈnʊs.kʷãː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈnus.kʷam][1]

Forms

nusquam (not comparable)[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin ne- (“not”) + usquam (“anywhere”).[2][1][3] De Vaan takes usquam as probably ⟨*us⟩, an extended form of ut (“as, so that”), with the indefinite -quam.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus, Persa: quaesīvī, nusquam repperī, “I searched, and found him nowhere”.[2]

Semantic evolution

It means in no place, nowhere, also “nowhere to be seen” (Plautus: where's your master? — nowhere, I don't know), and with verbs of motion to no place.[2] Nōn nusquam is “in some places” and nusquam nōn “everywhere”.[2] Nusquam esse is not to exist (Plautus: he gapes after what is nowhere), to be dead (Horace: is my friend Dama no more?), and in law to have no validity.[2] Figuratively it is in no thing or person (Cicero: we can find advantage nowhere but in what is honourable), at no time, never, and nusquam aliō quam “for no other purpose than” (Livy).[2]

Church Latin glosses it “on no occasion, nowhere, at no time, never”.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus in the senses “nowhere” and “never”.[2][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero in a figurative sense.[2][6]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace: nusquam est, “he is dead”.[2][6]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. nowhere, in no place; to no place.[2][1][5]
  2. (nusquam esse) Not to exist; to be dead;[2] (law) to have no validity.[2]
  3. In nothing, in no one.[2]
  4. On no occasion, never.[2][1][5]
  5. (nusquam aliō quam) For no other purpose than.[2][1]

Word family

  • nōnnusquam

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Nusquam.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/nusquam. Accessed 19 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·