ubinam

Forms

ubinam (not comparable)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ubī (“where”) + -nam.^[2][1][3] De Vaan traces ubī to Proto-Italic *kwu-þ/fei (“where”) and Proto-Indo-European *kwu-dhi (“where”).^[3] Cognate with Oscan puf (“where”) and Sanskrit कुह (kúha, “where”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,^[3] whose Mercator asks ubinam est is homo gentium?, “where in the world is that man?”^[4] Köbler dates it from Tertullian.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It is an emphatic interrogative, where in the world? wherever?,^[2] often with gentium: Cicero exclaims in the first speech against Catiline ubinam gentium sumus?, “where in the world are we?”^[4] It also stands in indirect questions, as when Cicero cannot see where a steady mind could find a footing.^[4] In Church Latin it is treated with ubi.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of a man who cannot be found.^[4][3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero, ubinam gentium sumus?^[4]
• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian.^[5]

Meanings

Adverb

1. Where in the world? wherever?;^[2][4][1] ubinam gentium, where on earth.^[2][4][1]

Related words

• ubi
• nam

References

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