Etymologically
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quapropter

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kʷaːˈprɔp.tɛr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [kʷaˈprɔp.ter][1]

Forms

quāpropter (not comparable)[1]

Etymology

It is formed from quā (“which”), the ablative feminine of quī (“who, which”), and propter (“because of”); compare proptereā (“for that reason”).[2][3][4] De Vaan derives ⟨propter⟩ from the family of prope (“near”), from an iterative preverb Proto-Indo-European *própro (“on and on”), cognate with Ancient Greek πρόπρο (própro, “before; on and on”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus is its first author,[4] with the question quāpropter? – sciēs, “why?” – “you'll know”, in the Epidicus.[2]

Semantic evolution

As an interrogative it is “for what reason? why?”, which Lewis and Short call ante- and post-classical.[2][3] As a relative it is “on account of which”, as Plautus' “what is there for which you threaten us?”, and at the head of a new sentence “for this reason, therefore”, as Terence's “so we must keep quiet somehow”.[2] Terence also splits it, quā mē propter addūxī.[3]

Church Latin glosses it “wherefore, on which account, why”.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus as an interrogative and as a relative.[2][4]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence for “therefore”.[2][4]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. (interrogative) For what reason?, why?[2][1]
  2. (relative) On account of which, wherefore.[2][1][6]
  3. (opening a sentence) For this reason, therefore.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson