quantuluscumque

Forms

quantuluscumque (feminine quantulacumque, neuter quantulumcumque); first/second-declension adjective with an indeclinable portion^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin quantulus (“how small”) + -cumque.^[2][1][3] quantulus is the diminutive of quantus (“how great”).^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero,^[3] who in a letter to Atticus asks him to see that someone does not touch the Precian inheritance, however small it is.^[2]

Semantic evolution

With a relative clause it means however small or however little: Cicero in De oratore speaks of his own ability, such as it is, and in the Orator says that he, whoever he was and however little he said, first turned Roman ears to such studies.^[2][4] With nouns it means of however small a size: Ovid advises a short woman to recline on her couch, however small.^[2] As a neuter noun it is any amount however small: Seneca does not think a man poor who has anything at all left.^[2] Columella and Juvenal use it as well.^[4]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero of a small inheritance and of his own ability.^[2][3]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of a small couch.^[2]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of any amount however small.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. However small, however little;^[2][4][1] (neuter as noun) however little an amount.^[2][4][1]
2. Of however small a size or degree;^[2] (neuter as noun) the smallest amount, any amount at all.^[2]

Related words

• quantulus
• quantuscumque
• quantus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press