Etymologically
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queo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈkʷe.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈkʷɛː.o][1]

Forms

queō (present infinitive quīre, perfect active quiī or quīvī, supine quitum); irregular conjugation[1] The present is queō, quīs, quit, quīmus, quītis, queunt, the imperfect quībam, the future quībō.[2][3] With a passive infinitive it has passive forms: Caecilius quītur, Terence quitast.[2]

Etymology

It is a back-formation from nequeō (“to be unable”).[3][2][1] De Vaan explains that the mix of ⟨-eō, -eunt⟩ and ⟨ī⟩-forms shows the verb eō (“to go”): a contracted ⟨*neque īt⟩ or ⟨*neque ītur⟩ “it does not go, it is impossible” came to mean “he is unable”, and removing the negative gave a new verb meaning “to be able”.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Naevius.[3]

Semantic evolution

Quīre is “to be able, can”, chiefly with an infinitive, and often with a negation.[2][4][1] The infinitive can be left out or replaced by a pronoun or ut (Terence: ut tē redimās captum quam queās minimō, “to ransom yourself, now you are caught, as cheaply as you can”).[2] Lewis & Short note that Cicero never uses nequeō in the first person singular, but nōn queō.[4]

Church Latin glosses it “to be able, can”.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses it.[3][6]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence: quam queās minimō.[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To be able, can.[2][4][1][5]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de