quem

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin quem (“whom”), the accusative of the Latin interrogative pronoun, written Old Galician-Portuguese quen in the oldest texts.^[2][3][1] Wiktionary and Nascentes also connect it with the relative quī (“who”).^[1][4] Houaiss lists the forms Old Galician-Portuguese que and ⟨quen⟩ in the 13th century and the modern spelling in the 14th.^[2] The REW notes that the Romance outcomes of the Latin accusative serve as nominatives as well, except in Logudorese Sardinian.^[5]

The same Latin form is Spanish quien and Romanian cine.^[5] Old Portuguese also had Old Galician-Portuguese qui, from the Latin nominative.^[5]

The Latin pronoun goes back to Proto-Italic *kʷis, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷis.^[1][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the pronoun to the 13th century and the phrase quem quer que “whoever” to 1214.^[2] The DDGM's glossary of a medieval Galician chronicle lists quen far more often than quem, both as a relative and as an interrogative.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Barbosa's dictionary of 1611 already has proverbs built on quem, such as Quem tolo vay a Santarem, tolo vem “whoever goes to Santarém a fool comes back a fool”.^[8] Bluteau notes that quem, like qual, could ask about only two persons, where Latin used uter.^[9] Morais (1789) points out that quem is also used for the plural, as in quem serão pais destes meninos?.^[10]

Beside the interrogative and relative senses, modern Portuguese uses it as an indefinite pronoun (“someone who”), and in quem dera! “if only!”.^[2][11] The proverb quem com ferro fere com ferro será ferido “whoever wounds with iron will be wounded with iron” is still current.^[12]

Timeline

• 1214 – quem quer que “whoever”.^[2]
• 13th century – the forms que and quen.^[2]
• 14th century – the spelling quem.^[2]
• 1416 – first occurrence in the CTA corpus, in the Vida de Santo Aleixo.^[13]
• 1611 – Barbosa gives proverbs with quem.^[8]
• 1789 – Morais notes its use for the plural.^[10]

Meanings

Pronoun

1. (interrogative) who, whom: which person?: Quem bateu à porta?^[2][11][1]
2. (relative) Who, whom; the person who: Foi ele quem me avisou.^[2][12][1]
3. (relative, after a preposition) Whom: a amiga com quem viajei.^[12][11]
4. (indefinite) Anyone who, someone who: Não havia quem o ajudasse.^[2][1]
5. quem quer que: whoever.^[2][11]
6. quem dera!: if only!, would that it were so.^[2][11]

Related words

• que
• qual
• Latin quis
• Spanish quien

Usage notes

Michaelis also enters a separate noun quem of Japanese origin, a double-edged sword of the early Japanese type, the weapon of Shinto and Buddhist deities.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. quem
3. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. quem
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. quem
5. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6953
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. quis
7. ^ Instituto da Lingua Galega, Dicionario de dicionarios do galego medieval (DDGM), ed. Ernesto González Seoane, Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/ddgm, p. s.v. quem
8. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. quem
9. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. quem
10. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1789), Diccionario da lingua portugueza composto pelo padre D. Rafael Bluteau, reformado, e accrescentado, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 2, 275
11. ^ a b c d e Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. quem
12. ^ a b c d Michaelis: Moderno Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, São Paulo: Melhoramentos (online as Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa, https://michaelis.uol.com.br), p. s.v. quem
13. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. quem