See also: Quam, quặm, and QAM

Latin edit

Pronunciation edit

Etymology 1 edit

From Proto-Italic *kʷis, *kʷoi, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷeh₂m, accusative of *kʷeh₂, feminine of *kʷos, *kʷis. Compare its masculine form cum (as in tum-tam).

"In such a sentence as hic tam beatus est, quam ille the sense of tam beatus could equally be rendered by non beatior. It was presumably by the substitution of equivalent expressions ('contamination'), possibly first in negative expressions, that the illogical quam 'as' came to be used after comparatives." [1]

Alternative forms edit

Adverb edit

quam

  1. in what (which) way, to what (which) degree; how, how much, as much as, as far as (after superlative adjectives and adverbs)
    quam potuit.
    In what way/ to what degree/ how/ how much/ as much as/ as far as he could.
    quam primumas quickly as possible
    quam celerrimeas quickly as possible
    quam maximeas far as possible
    quam serissimeas late as possible
    quam saepissimemuch often
    Quam rogas!
    How much you ask!
    quam maximis potest itineribusby as long journeys as he can (Caesar, de Bello Gallico, VII, 9)
    Ipse, ut quam primum iter faceretHe himself with the intention of marching as soon as possible (Caesar, de Bello Gallico, VII, 11)
    Equitibus imperat, ut quam latissime possint vagentur et quam maximum hostibus terrorem inferantHe orders the cavalry to extend themselves as far as they could, and strike as great a panic as possible into the enemy (Caesar, de Bello Gallico, VII, 8)
    ut in omnes partes equites quam latissime pervagenturthat the cavalry should range as extensively as possible in all directions (Caesar, de Bello Gallico, VII, 9)
  2. (in comparisons) as
    Tam similis est, quam potest.
    So similar it is, as it can.
  3. (after comparative adjectives and adverbs) than
    alius quamdifferent than
    ante quam (+ subjunctive or infinitive)sooner than
    aliter quam volesin a different way than you want
    Hic maior est, quam ille.
    This is bigger, than that.
    offendēs dissignātiōnem Tyranniōnis mīrificam librōrum meōrum, quōrum reliquiae multō meliōrēs sunt quam putāramYou will encounter Tyrannio's wonderful arrangement of my books, the remains of which are much better than I had thought. (Cicero, Epistulae ad Atticum, 4.4A)
    • sed Tobias plus timens Deum quam regem rapiebat corpora occisorum et occultabat in domo sua et mediis noctibus sepeliebat ea
      But Tobias fearing God more than the king, carried off the bodies of them that were slain, and hid them in his house, and at midnight buried them.
      (AD 4th C., St Jerome, Vulgate, Tobias 2:9:)
    Priusque omnes in unum locum cogit quam de eius adventu Arvernis nuntiari possetand gathers all legions into one place sooner than (before) the intelligence of his arrival could be announced to the Arverni (Caesar, de Bello Gallico, VII, 9)
    Praestare visum est tamen omnis difficultates perpeti quam tanta contumelia acceptaHowever it seemed better to sustain any hardship than to accept such an insult (Caesar, de Bello Gallico, VII, 10)
  4. (rare) rather than
Coordinate terms edit
Derived terms edit
Related terms edit
Descendants edit
  • French: que (than, as)
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: quan; ca
    • Galician: can (how); ca (than)
    • Portuguese: quão (how, as); ca (than) (northern)
  • Romanian: ca (than, as)
  • Romansch: ca (than)
  • Spanish: cuan (how)

References edit

  • quam”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • quam”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • quam in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
  • quam in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette, pages 1,290–1,291
  • Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
    • (ambiguous) I cannot wait till..: nihil mihi longius est or videtur quam dum or quam ut
    • (ambiguous) nothing is more tiresome to me than..: nihil mihi longius est quam (c. Inf.)
    • (ambiguous) it is more than twenty years ago: amplius sunt (quam) viginti anni or viginti annis
    • (ambiguous) Plato's ideal republic: illa civitas, quam Plato finxit
    • (ambiguous) this is more plausible than true: haec speciosiora quam veriora sunt
    • (ambiguous) I have exhausted all my material: copiam quam potui persecutus sum
    • (ambiguous) there is nothing I am more interested in than..: nihil antiquius or prius habeo quam ut (nihil mihi antiquius or potius est, quam ut)
    • (ambiguous) by the longest possible forced marches: quam maximis itineribus (potest)
  • Dizionario Latino, Olivetti
  • quam in Ramminger, Johann (accessed 22.04.04) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700[2], pre-publication website, 2005-2016
  • quam” on pages 1,537–1,538 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (1st ed., 1968–82)
  1. ^ Palmer, L.R. (1906) The Latin Language, London, Faber and Faber, p. 337

Etymology 2 edit

See quī (relative pronoun and interrogative adjective).

Pronoun edit

quam

  1. accusative singular feminine of quī

Adjective edit

quam

  1. accusative singular feminine of quī

Etymology 3 edit

See quis (pronoun).

Pronoun edit

quam

  1. accusative singular feminine of quis

Middle Dutch edit

Verb edit

quam

  1. first/third-person singular past indicative of cōmen

Middle English edit

Pronoun edit

quam

  1. (Northern) Alternative form of whom (who, whom, accusative)