quicumque
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Latin
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From quī + -cumque; quīcunque is a later development reflecting the assimilated pronunciation.
Pronunciation
[edit]- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): /kʷiːˈkun.kʷe/, [kʷiːˈkʊŋkʷɛ]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /kwiˈkum.kwe/, [kwiˈkumkwe]
Pronoun
[edit]quīcumque (feminine quaecumque, neuter quodcumque); relative/interrogative pronoun with an indeclinable portion
- whoever, whosoever; whatever, whatsoever
- 43 BCE, Asinius Pollio, in Cicero, Epistulae ad Familiares 10.31.3:
- Ita si id agitur, ut rursus in potestate omnia unius sint, quicumque is est, ei me profiteor inimicum.
- If therefore events are so developing as to put all power again in the hands of one man, whosoever that man is, I declare myself his foe.
- Ita si id agitur, ut rursus in potestate omnia unius sint, quicumque is est, ei me profiteor inimicum.
- c. 40 BCE, Sallust, Bellum Iugurthinum 103:
- Eos ad Marium ac deinde, si placeat, Romam legatos ire iubet; agundarum rerum et quocumque modo belli componundi licentiam ipsis permittit.
- These he ordered to go as envoys to Marius and then, if it seemed advisable, to Rome, giving them complete freedom of action and permission to make peace in whatever manner.
- Eos ad Marium ac deinde, si placeat, Romam legatos ire iubet; agundarum rerum et quocumque modo belli componundi licentiam ipsis permittit.
- c. 110 BCE – c. 25 BCE, Cornelius Nepos, On the Eminent Commanders XIV. Datames 14.10:
- Namque is pollicitus est regi se eum interfecturum, si ei rex permitteret, ut, quodcumque vellet, liceret impune facere, fidemque de ea re more Persarum dextra dedisset.
- For he promised the king that he would kill him [Datames], if the king would allow him to do whatever he wanted with impunity and would give him a pledge to that effect with his right hand after the manner of the Persians.
- Namque is pollicitus est regi se eum interfecturum, si ei rex permitteret, ut, quodcumque vellet, liceret impune facere, fidemque de ea re more Persarum dextra dedisset.
- 30 BCE – 16 BCE, Propertius, Elegies 4.1:
- Hoc quodcumque vides, hospes, qua maxima Roma est, / ante Phrygem Aenean collis et herba fuit
- This, stranger, whatsoever you see where Rome the greatest stands, / was hill and grass before Phrygian Aeneas
- Hoc quodcumque vides, hospes, qua maxima Roma est, / ante Phrygem Aenean collis et herba fuit
Usage notes
[edit]- quīcumque is used both adjectivally and substantivally.
- Cato is cited with the archaic plural form quescumque (from ques).
Declension
[edit]Relative/interrogative pronoun with an indeclinable portion.
| Number | Singular | Plural | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Case / Gender | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | |
| Nominative | quīcumque | quaecumque | quodcumque | quīcumque1 | quaecumque | ||
| Genitive | cuiuscumque1 | quōrumcumque | quārumcumque | quōrumcumque | |||
| Dative | cuicumque1 | quibuscumque quīscumque1 | |||||
| Accusative | quemcumque | quamcumque | quodcumque | quōscumque | quāscumque | quaecumque | |
| Ablative | quōcumque | quācumque | quōcumque | quibuscumque quīscumque1 | |||
1In Republican Latin or earlier, alternative spellings could be found for the following forms of quī/quis and its compounds: the masculine nominative singular or plural quī (old spelling quei), the genitive singular cuius (old spelling quoius), the dative singular cui (old spelling quoi or quoiei), the dative/ablative plural quīs (old spelling queis).
Related terms
[edit]Descendants
[edit]- → English: Quicumque vult, Quicunque vult
References
[edit]- “quīcumque (or -cunque), quaecumque, quodcumque”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “quīcumque (not -cunque), quaecumque, quodcumque”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- quīcumquĕ (-cunquĕ), quæc-, quodc- in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette, page 1298.