quonam

Forms

quōnam (not comparable)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin quō (“whither”) + nam (“for, indeed”).^[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it first:^[3] in the Trinummus one character asks another where he is going, and the answer is quonam, nisi domum?, “where else but home?”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It asks “where ever?” with some insistence.^[2][4] Cicero asks in a letter where he would be going if he followed, and Caesar asks to what end all this tends but his ruin.^[4] From place it passes to the point or result something leads to: Cicero asks where young men who see these things will turn their minds.^[2] With usque it asks how much longer or how far, as in Statius.^[2][4]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, “where else but home?”.^[4][3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero, of where young men will turn their minds.^[2][3]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar, “to what end?”.^[4][3]
• c. 45–96 AD – Statius, quonam usque, “how much longer?”.^[2][4][3]

Meanings

Adverb

1. To what place ever? where on earth? whither, pray?^[2][4][1]
2. To what action, condition or result?^[2]
3. quōnam usque: how much longer? how far?^[2][4]

Related words

• quō
• nam
• quōrsum
• ubinam

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press