quodammodo

Forms

quōdammodo (not comparable)^[1] Also written separately, quōdam modō,^[2][3] and split by another word, as quodam tamen modo in Quintilian.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is from Latin quīdam (“a certain”) + modus (“manner”), the ablative phrase ⟨quōdam modō⟩ “in a certain manner”, written as one word or separately.^[2][3][5] Modus goes back to Proto-Italic *medo- (“measure, judgement”) and Proto-Indo-European *med-o- (“measure”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Cicero,^[5] who writes in a speech on the agrarian law that a man, though what he gave could in no way be given to the people, tamen quodam modo dedit, “yet in a manner gave it”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It means in a certain manner, in a measure, so to speak, as it were, and is a classical word used by Cicero, Nepos, Publilius Syrus, Celsus and Tacitus.^[2][3][4] Ecclesiastical Latin keeps the sense in a certain way or measure, as it were.^[7]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it often.^[2][5]
• c. 100–24 BC – Nepos uses it.^[2][3][5]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus has quodam modo in the Agricola.^[2][5]

Meanings

Adverb

1. In a certain manner, in a measure, so to speak, as it were.^[2][3][7]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson