Etymologically
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quandoquidem

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kʷanˈdoː.kʷɪ.dẽː], [kʷanˈdɔ.kʷɪ.dẽː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [kʷanˈdɔː.kʷi.dem][1]

Forms

quandō̆quidem [1] It is also written separately.[2] In dactylic verse the second syllable is short, as in Virgil and Lucretius.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin quandō (“when, since”) + quidem (“indeed”), a fusion of the conjunction with the particle.[2][1][4] The conjunction quandō is from quam (“how, as”) and an element ⟨*dō⟩ also seen in dōnec; the OLD compares Sanskrit कदा (kadā́, “when”).[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Plautus;[4] Terence has “since I am so helpless, so without counsel”.[3]

Semantic evolution

It means since, seeing that or inasmuch as, giving a reason already known or granted.[2][3] Church Latin glosses it “seeing that, because, since”,[5] and in medieval texts it also means “when”.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus.[4]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence of “since I am so helpless”.[3][4]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil, with the second syllable short.[3][4]
  • Middle Ages – In the sense “when”.[6]

Meanings

Conjunction

  1. Since, seeing that, inasmuch as.[2][3][1]
  2. (Medieval Latin) When.[6]

References

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