quantulus

Forms

quantulus (feminine quantula, neuter quantulum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin quantus (“how great”) + -ulus, a diminutive.^[2][1][3] De Vaan derives quantus from a preform Proto-Indo-European *kweh2-nt-, built on the stem of the relative and interrogative pronoun quī.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis and Short cite it first from Plautus,^[3][5] whose Bacchides has nescio quantulum attulerit, “I don't know how little he brought”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It is the diminutive counterpart of quantus, used in questions, exclamations and relative clauses about how small something is.^[2] Lucretius asks how small certain limbs and joints are, Cicero exclaims how small the sun looks to us, and Juvenal says how little the bodies of men are.^[2][3] The neuter quantulum is used as a noun, how small an amount or how trifling a matter, as in Cicero's id autem quantulum est?, and as an adverb.^[2][3] Gellius uses quantulum est mihi memoriae, as much (that is, as little) as I remember.^[3] Apuleius repeats it, quantulum quantulum, for what little one can give.^[2][3]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses the neuter quantulum, how little.^[3][5]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it in a question about the size of limbs.^[2][3][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero exclaims how small the sun seems.^[2][5]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses the doubled quantulum quantulum.^[2][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (interrogative) How small? how little?; neuter, how small an amount, how trifling a matter?^[2][3]
2. (exclamatory) How small!^[2]
3. (relative) Of what (small) size; neuter, what small amount.^[2]
4. (repeated) What little one can.^[2]

Word family

• quantuluscumque
• quantuluslibet

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ 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