Etymologically
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qui

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈkʷiː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈkʷiː][1]

Forms

quī (feminine quae, neuter quod); relative pronoun[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *kʷoi, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *kʷos, the relative and indefinite stem, with a deictic particle ⟨-i⟩ added in the nominative.[2][1][3] The older forms were quoi and quei.[2][3] The Latin paradigm mixes forms of this stem with forms of the interrogative stem *kʷis (see quis): the accusative ⟨quem⟩, the plural ⟨quibus⟩ and the ablative ⟨quī⟩ belong to the latter.[2] The adverb meaning “how” is an old instrumental or ablative, from *kʷíh₁.[2][3][1]

Cognate with Oscan pod and Umbrian poi, where /kʷ/ became /p/,[2] and with Sanskrit कः (káḥ).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The pronoun appears in the oldest Latin, on the cippus of the Roman Forum, as quoi (singular and plural) and quos.[2]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin quī, quae, quod is the relative pronoun “who, which, that”, and also an interrogative adjective “which? what kind of?”, contrasting with the substantival quis.[3][4] After sī, nisi, num and nē it is indefinite, “any”.[3][1]

The adverb quī meant “how? by what means?” and, as a relative, “whereby”; in early Latin it introduced curses (quī illum dī deaeque … perdant!) and, after hercle or quippe, strengthened a statement.[3][4] By the Classical period it survived mainly in such fixed combinations as atquī and quīn.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 450 BC – Used in the Twelve Tables.[5]
  • 204–169 BC – Ennius uses the adverb quī in a curse.[3][5]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses quī “at what price?”.[3][5]

Meanings

Pronoun

  1. (relative) who, which, that.[3][4]
  2. (interrogative adjective) Which? what? what kind of?[3][4]
  3. (in exclamations) What a …![3]
  4. (indefinite, after sī, nisi, num, nē) Any.[3][1]

Adverb

  1. How? in what way? by what means? why?[3][4]
  2. (relative) Whereby, with which; in order that.[3]
  3. (early Latin, in curses) Would that …![3]
  4. Somehow, surely (after quippe, ut, hercle, edepol).[3]

Word family

Usage notes

Lewis & Short note that the interrogative quī asks about a person's character, and quis usually about the name.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de