Etymologically
Log in

qualiscumque

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 03:59. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kʷaː.lɪsˈkʊŋ.kʷɛ][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [kʷa.lisˈkum.kʷe][1]

Forms

quāliscumque (neuter quālecumque); third-declension two-termination determiner with an indeclinable portion[1] It is also spelled -cunque, and its parts can be separated, as in quāle id cumque est.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin quālis (“of what kind”) + -cumque.[2][1][3] Wiktionary tentatively traces quālis to Proto-Indo-European *kʷh₂élis.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero,[4] who writes that whatever the leading men of a state have been like, such the state has been.[3]

Semantic evolution

It is of whatever sort or quality, whatever, as Cicero's he approves what is, whatever it is.[2] Of persons it is whatever someone is like: Cicero says that a person not of just any kind gives weight to testimony.[2] With est it is often depreciating, such as it is: Cicero says the present state of things, such as it is, can be kept only by concord.[2] Without a verb it acts as an indefinite, any whatever, as in Cicero's letters, and depreciatingly in Propertius' Paris, such as he is in arms.[2] Church Latin glosses it of whatever kind, any whatever,[5] and Wiktionary gives a Late Latin sense any, each without distinction.[1]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero in all its main uses.[2][4]
  • 57/46–12 BC – Propertius of Paris, such as he is.[2][4]

Meanings

Determiner

  1. Of whatever kind or quality, whatever.[2][3][1][5]
  2. Such as it is, such as he is (depreciating).[2]
  3. Any whatever;[2][1] (Late Latin) any, each without distinction.[2][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d 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