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unde

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈʊn.dɛ][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈun.de][1]

Forms

unde (not comparable)[1]

Etymology

It is related to ubī “where” as inde “thence” is to ibi “there”.[2] Wiktionary derives it from an earlier ⟨*cunde⟩, from the stem of quī with a demonstrative suffix ⟨*-de⟩, the ⟨c⟩ being lost as in ⟨ubī⟩ and kept after a vowel in alicunde and sīcunde.[1] Köbler refers it to the PIE interrogative stem Proto-Indo-European *kʷu-.[3] De Vaan derives ⟨ubī⟩ from Proto-Italic *kʷuþei.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Plautus,[3] in whose Bacchides one character asks where a woman comes from: unde eam esse aiunt? – ex Samō, “where do they say she is from?” – “from Samos”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Unde asks and relates “from where, whence”, then “from whom”, “from what source or cause”, “from what family or rank”, and of words and customs “from what origin”.[2][5][1] As a relative it stands for ex, ab or dē with a relative pronoun, “from whom, from which”.[2][1] Unde fit means “hence it happens that”.[1]

Church Latin glosses it “whence, wherefore, whereupon, from whom”.[6] In Medieval Latin it also means “by which” and “concerning which”.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: unde eam esse aiunt?;[2][3] bonum habē animum – unde habeam?, “cheer up” – “where am I to get it from?”[2][3]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero: nec enim inde venit, unde māllem, “it did not come from where I would have liked”.[5][3]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace: unde quō vēnī?, “from what to what have I come?”[2][3]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. From where, whence.[2][5][1][6]
  2. From whom.[2][1][6]
  3. From what source or cause; how; wherefore.[2][1][6]
  4. From what family or rank.[2][1]
  5. (relative) From which, from whom; by means of which.[2][1][7]
  6. (Medieval Latin) Concerning which.[7]

Word family

  • undeunde
  • undecumque
  • undelibet
  • alicunde
  • aliunde
  • nēcunde
  • sīcunde
  • undique

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. ^ 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 c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill