quisnam Latin · revision 31098

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=ine-pro *kʷis}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈkʷɪs.nãː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈkʷiz.nam]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''quisnam''' (femine quaenam, neuter quidnam)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is formed from [[m|la|quis|t=who?]] and the particle [[m|la|nam]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Köbler 2010) De Vaan traces ⟨quis⟩ to [[itc-pro|*kʷis]] and [[ine-pro|*kʷis|t=who, what]], cognate with [[osc|pis|t=who]]; ⟨nam⟩ may be an old accusative of a pronoun stem [[m|itc-pro|*no-|t=that]].^(de Vaan 2008)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler gives Plautus as its first author,^(Köbler 2010) who asks “who is that man in the cloak following at a distance?”.^(OLD 2012)

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+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is the emphatic “who, pray?”, in direct and indirect questions, as Cicero's “we began to ask who this Verrucius was”.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) The neuter ''quidnam'' is “what, pray?”, and as an adverb “why, pray?”, as Plautus' “but why does he come home so soon?”.^(OLD 2012) The masculine singular is also used as an adjective, for [[quīnam]], as Plautus' “what river is that, that the sea would not receive?”.^(OLD 2012)

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+ Church Latin glosses it “who then, which then, what then”.^(Stelten 1995)

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+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus in direct questions.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero in indirect questions.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Pronoun===

+ # Who? which? what? (emphatic: who, pray?); also in indirect questions.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # ''(neuter quidnam, as adverb)'' Why, pray?^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(masculine, as adjective)'' What, which (= ''quīnam'').^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[quis]]

+ * [[nam]]

+ * [[quīnam]]

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+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}