quandoque

Forms

quandōque (not comparable)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin quandō (“when”) + -que.^[2][1][3] De Vaan lists it among the words formed with the particle -dam, with ⟨quandō⟩, dōnec (“until”) and dōnicum (“until”), from a demonstrative Proto-Indo-European *de (“here”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from the Twelve Tables,^[4][3] which have “QVANDOQVE SARPTA, DONEC DEMPTA ERVNT” (whenever they have been pruned, until they are removed).^[5]

Semantic evolution

As a relative it is “at whatever time, whenever”: Cato tells his son that whenever the Greeks give Rome their literature, they will corrupt everything.^[2] Cicero also uses it causally, “inasmuch as”.^[2] As an indefinite it is “at some time or other, some day”, as in Cicero's “I shall wait until he comes some day”, and Seneca's “one must die somewhere, some time”.^[2]

Church Latin has it for “at some time” and as a conjunction “whenever, as often as, since”,^[6] and Medieval Latin also for “at last, finally”.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 450 BC – The Twelve Tables.^[5][3]
• 234–149 BC – Cato to his son, “whenever”.^[2][3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero in the senses “inasmuch as” and “some day”.^[2][3]

Meanings

Adverb

1. (relative) At whatever time, whenever, as often as.^[2][5][1][6]
2. (causal) Inasmuch as, since.^[2][1][6]
3. (indefinite) At some time or other, some day; sometimes.^[2][1][6]
4. (Medieval Latin) At last, finally.^[7]

Related words

• quandō
• quandōquidem

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill