quomodocumque

Forms

quōmodocumque (not comparable)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin quōmodo (“how”) + cumque, the relative adverb with the generalising particle.^[2][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis & Short cite it first from Plautus, in the sense “anyhow, be that as it may”: sed tamen quōmodocumque, quamquam sumus pauperculī, est domī quod edimus, “but anyhow, poor as we are, there is something to eat at home”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In Cicero it introduces a relative clause: quōmodocumque dīcitur, intellegī tamen quid dīcātur potest, “however it is put, what is meant can still be understood” (some manuscripts read quoquō modō).^[4][3] The OLD notes that it is also written as two words.^[2] Seneca and the jurists use it in the same way;^[3] Ulpian, for instance, rules that soldiers' wills are valid however they are made.^[3]

With the verb left out it means “in some way or other, somehow”, as in Florus and in the Declamations ascribed to Quintilian.^[2][4] The Itala has it in Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, of being led to dumb idols however one was led.^[3] Medieval writers kept both uses: the DMLBS quotes William of Malmesbury for each, the second in the sense “somehow or other, tolerably well”.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it in the sense “anyhow”.^[4][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it to introduce a relative clause.^[3][2][6]
• c. 120 AD – Florus uses it without a verb, “somehow”.^[2][6]
• after 220 AD – The Itala uses it in Paul's first letter to the Corinthians.^[3][6]

Meanings

Adverb

1. In whatever way, however.^[2][4][3][7]
2. (with the verb left out) In some way or other, somehow; to some degree.^[2][4][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 f g h Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson