quando

Forms

quandō̆ ^[1] The Twelve Tables, Gaius and Festus have an older quandoc, and an inscription spells it cuando.^[2] Festus also reports an old quandōd.^[3]

Etymology

It is formed from quam (“how, as”) and a particle ⟨*dō⟩ “then, until”, also seen in dōnec.^[2][1] Wiktionary traces the second part to Proto-Indo-European *doh₁, an instrumental of ⟨*de⟩.^[1] De Vaan lists it among the words built on the relative and interrogative stem of quī, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷo-, the stem of Oscan pam (“than”) and Umbrian pane (“when”).^[4] The OLD compares Sanskrit कदा (kadā́, “when?”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler lists it in the Twelve Tables, in the form quandoc.^[5][2] De Vaan records it from Livius Andronicus on, who has it as a relative: quandō diēs adveniet, quem profāta Morta est, “when the day comes that Morta foretold”.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

Quandō asks “when?” in direct questions (Plautus: quandō hinc īre cōgitās Carthāginem?, “when are you thinking of leaving for Carthage?”) and in indirect ones (Cicero), and as a relative means “at the time when”.^[2] From the temporal sense came the causal one, “seeing that, since”, already in Plautus.^[2][1] After sī, nisi, nē or num it is indefinite, “ever, at any time” (Ennius), and is sometimes written as one word with sī.^[2]

Church Latin glosses it “when, at what time, some time, how long”, and as a conjunction “when, since, because”.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 450 BC – The Twelve Tables have quandoc.^[5][2]
• 280/260–before 200 BC – Livius Andronicus uses it as a relative.^[4][2][5]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it as an indefinite, “ever”.^[2][5]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus in questions and in the causal sense.^[2][5]

Meanings

Adverb

1. (interrogative) At what time? when?^[2][1]
2. (relative) At which time, when.^[2][1]
3. (indefinite, after sī, nisi, nē, num) Ever, at any time, some day.^[2][1]

Conjunction

1. When, now that.^[1][6]
2. Seeing that, since, because.^[2][1][6]

Word family

• ecquandō
• quandōque
• quandōcumque
• quandōlibet
• aliquandō
• nēquandō
• sīquandō

Related words

• quam
• dōnec
• quī

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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 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 d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson