tamquam Latin · revision 17900

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=c. 235–200 BC, Naevius}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈtaŋ.kʷãː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈtam.kʷam]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''tamquam''' (not comparable)^(Wiktionary)

+ It is also spelled ''tanquam''.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a compound [[af|la|tam|quam]], “so as”.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary) ⟨Tam⟩ goes back to [[ine-pro|*teh₂m]]; ⟨quam⟩ is the accusative feminine of the relative pronoun [[quī]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan dates it from Naevius.^(de Vaan 2008) Plautus uses it in a comparison: ''tenebrae ibi erant tamquam in puteō'', “it was dark there, as in a well”.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==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.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) 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”.^(OLD 2012) With verbs of accusing it gives the alleged ground, “on the ground that”.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ In Church Latin it is “just as, as it were, as if”.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: ''tamquam in puteō''.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero: ''ex urbe tamquam ē vinclīs ēvolāvissent'', “they had flown out of the city as if out of chains”.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy writes that a priest changed everything ''tamquam deum monitū'', “as if warned by the gods”.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Conjunction===

+ # Just as, [[m|en|as]], like.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # A kind of, quasi- (of a term used loosely).^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(with sī or the subjunctive)'' As if, as though.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # As for example.^(OLD 2012)

+ # So to speak, as it were.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # On the ground that (with verbs of accusing).^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[tam]]

+ * [[quam]]

+ * [[quasi]]

+ * [[velut]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}