tamquam

Forms

tamquam (not comparable)^[1] It is also spelled tanquam.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is a compound from Latin tam + quam, “so as”.^[2][3][1] ⟨Tam⟩ goes back to Proto-Indo-European *teh₂m; ⟨quam⟩ is the accusative feminine of the relative pronoun quī.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Naevius.^[4] Plautus uses it in a comparison: tenebrae ibi erant tamquam in puteō, “it was dark there, as in a well”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Tamquam introduces comparisons, “just as, as”, and with a conditional clause (tamquam sī) or the subjunctive “as if, as though”, both for imagined cases and for things that are not so.^[2][3] It marks a term used loosely, “a kind of”, softens a bold word (“so to speak”), and is used from Seneca the Elder on to introduce examples, “as for example”.^[2] With verbs of accusing it gives the alleged ground, “on the ground that”.^[2]

In Church Latin it is “just as, as it were, as if”.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: tamquam in puteō.^[2][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero: ex urbe tamquam ē vinclīs ēvolāvissent, “they had flown out of the city as if out of chains”.^[2][6]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy writes that a priest changed everything tamquam deum monitū, “as if warned by the gods”.^[2][6]

Meanings

Conjunction

1. Just as, as, like.^[2][3][1][5]
2. A kind of, quasi- (of a term used loosely).^[2]
3. (with sī or the subjunctive) As if, as though.^[2][3][1]
4. As for example.^[2]
5. So to speak, as it were.^[2][3][1]
6. On the ground that (with verbs of accusing).^[2]

Related words

• tam
• quam
• quasi
• velut

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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 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 Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de