qualis

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈkʷaː.lɪs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈkʷaː.lis]^[1]

Forms

quālis ^[1]

Etymology

It is from Proto-Italic *kʷālis, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *kʷeh₂-li-s, from a feminine or collective form of the interrogative and relative stem Proto-Indo-European *kʷo- with an ⟨l⟩-suffix.^[1] The OLD analyses it as the stem of quī with the suffix -ālis.^[2] Cognate with Ancient Greek πηλίκος (pēlíkos, “how great”).^[1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Ennius, whom he dates 204–169 BC, and the OLD's earliest citation for the exclamatory use is from Ennius.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

As an interrogative it meant of what kind, what sort of, as Cicero's quālis ista philosophia est? “what sort of philosophy is that?”, and of persons what is he like, and in what state.^[2][5] In exclamations it meant what a remarkable, or ironically what a, as in Lucretius.^[2] As a relative it meant such as, with the correlative tālis, in comparisons and similes, and in Virgil quālis ubi “as when”.^[2] In Cicero's logic it meant having certain qualities, determinate.^[2]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant what manner, what kind, such as.^[6] It survives in Italian quale, French quel, Spanish cual and Romanian care.^[1] Its noun quālitās, said to be coined by Cicero, gave English quality about 1300.^[7]

Timeline

• 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it in exclamation.^[2][4]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it in questions and comparisons.^[2][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it in logic.^[2][4]
• c. 1300 – English quality is recorded, from quālitās.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (interrogative) Of what kind? what sort of?^[2]
2. What is he like? in what state?^[2]
3. (exclamatory) What a!^[2]
4. (relative) Such as; as, quālis ubi, as when.^[2]
5. (logic) Having qualities, determinate.^[2]

Word family

• ecquālis
• quāliscumque
• quālislibet
• quālisquālis
• quālitās
• quālificō
• quāliter

Related words

• hic
• is
• quisque
• quispiam
• alius
• eiusmodī
• eiusdemmodī
• cuiusmodī
• cuiusmodīcumque
• cuiusvīsmodī
• tālis
• quī
• English quality

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com