quamlibet Latin · revision 32835

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=96–55 BC, Lucretius|origins=la quam, la libet}}

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''quamlibet''' (adverb; not comparable)^(OLD 2012)

+ The older spelling is ''quamlubet''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|quam|libet|t1=how|t2=it pleases]].^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010) De Vaan traces [[m|la|libet]], older ⟨lubet⟩, to [[itc-pro|*luf-ē-|t=to desire]] and [[ine-pro|*lubʰ-eh₁-|t=to please]], comparing [[goh|liob|t=dear, sweet]] and [[osc|loufir|t=or]], which shows a similar shift to the sense any.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Lewis & Short first quote Lucretius, with ⟨quamlubet⟩: let a thing be as unique as you like.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Lewis & Short give a first sense as one pleases, at will.^(Lewis & Short 1879) More often it is in whatever degree, however, modifying an adjective or adverb: Caelius, writing to Cicero, asks that Pompey be given some gift, however slight.^(OLD 2012) With a verb it is however much: Quintilian writes of whatever little a child's earlier years have given.^(OLD 2012) Köbler dates it from Ovid and finds it in medieval charters.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius has ⟨quamlubet⟩.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it.^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian with a verb.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adverb===

+ # As one pleases, at will.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # In whatever degree, [[m|en|however]]; however much.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[libet]]

+ * [[quam]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}