quisquis

Forms

quisquis m or f (indefinite, neuter quidquid or quicquid)^[1] Only quisquis and quidquid (quicquid) are in regular use; an inscription has quitquit, and Varro the masculine quīquī.^[2] Rare forms are quaeque and quodquod.^[3]

Etymology

It is the pronoun quis repeated, inherited from Proto-Italic *kʷiskʷis (“whoever”).^[2][1][4] Compare Oscan pispis (“whoever”) and Hittite kuiškuiš (“whoever”).^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Livius Andronicus on;^[4] Plautus has auctiōnem hīc faciam et vendam quidquid est, “I'll hold an auction here and sell whatever there is”.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Quisquis is an indefinite relative pronoun, “whoever, anyone who”, neuter quidquid “whatever, all that”.^[2][6] It can refer to something not yet identified (“whoever he may be”), and in parentheses means “no matter who” (quisquis es “whoever you are”).^[2] The neuter is also used adverbially, “to whatever extent”.^[2]

It also means “any single one” (like quisque), and adjectivally “any … that” (quisquis homō).^[2][6]

Timeline

• c. 280–200 BC – First found in Livius Andronicus.^[4]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: adulēscēns, quisquis es, “young man, whoever you are”.^[2][5]
• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it adjectivally, “any kind of”.^[2][5]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of something mentioned before, “whichever it is”.^[2][5]

Meanings

Pronoun

1. whoever, anyone who;^[2][3][1] (neuter) whatever, all that.^[2][1]
2. Whoever he may be;^[2] quisquis es, whoever you are.^[2]
3. (neuter as adverb) To whatever extent.^[2]
4. Any single one, each.^[2][6]

Determiner

1. Any … that, whatever.^[2]

Word family

• cuicuimodi
• quōquōuersus
• quisquislibet
• ūnumquicquid

Related words

• quis
• quīcumque
• quisque

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 n o p q r Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson