quizais
Galician edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
From Old Galician-Portuguese quiçay, quiça, quiçais. Ultimately probably from the Latin expression qui sapit (“who knows”). Compare Portuguese quiçá, Spanish quizá, Italian chissà, Catalan quissà and French qui sait.
Pronunciation edit
Adverb edit
quizais
- perhaps, maybe
- 1370, Ramón Lorenzo, editor, Crónica troiana, A Coruña: Fundación Barrié, page 328:
- quiçays fora mellor estar aló en paz
- maybe it would be better to be there in peace
- 1671, Gabriel Feixoo de Araúxo, Contenda dos labradores de Caldelas:
- cosais co'esta tunda aqueibaran, enon seran ousados de vir por lan, è volber trasquilados
- perhaps with this beating they will settle down, and they will not dare to come for wool and return shorn [to come for more than they bargained for]
References edit
- “quiçais” in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval, SLI - ILGA 2006–2022.
- “quiç” in Xavier Varela Barreiro & Xavier Gómez Guinovart: Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval. SLI / Grupo TALG / ILG, 2006–2018.
- “quizais” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006–2013.
- “quizais” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
- “quizais” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.