quam

See also: Quam, quặm, and QAM

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /kʷam/, [kʷä̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /kwam/, [kwäm]

Etymology 1

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."

Alternative forms

• quamde, quande

Conjunction

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 primum ― as quickly as possible

   quam celerrime ― as quickly as possible

   quam maxime ― as far as possible

   quam serissime ― as late as possible

   quam saepissime ― much often

   Quam rogas!

   How much you ask!

   quam maximis potest itineribus ― by as long journeys as he can (Caesar, de Bello Gallico, VII, 9)

   Ipse, ut quam primum iter faceret ― He 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 inferant ― He 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 pervagentur ― that 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 quam ― different than

   ante quam (+ subjunctive or infinitive) ― sooner than

   aliter quam voles ― in 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 putāram ― You 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 posset ― and 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 accepta ― However it seemed better to sustain any hardship than to accept such an insult (Caesar, de Bello Gallico, VII, 10)

4. (rarely) rather than
   • Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita I, 35:

     Romae se quam in vetere patria vixisse

     he had lived in Rome rather than his city of birth

Coordinate terms

• tam

Derived terms

• perquam
• priusquam
• quamdiū
• quamquam
• quamvis
• quandō
• quantus
• quasi
• quisquam
• quōquam
• tamquam
• umquam
• usquam

Related terms

Latin correlatives ^(edit)

type	demonstrative			anaphoric	identity	interrogative/ relative	indefinite			negative	other
	proximal	medial	distal				relative	indefinite	negative polarity
basic	hic	iste, istic	ille, illic	is	ipse, īdem	quis/quī	quisquis, quīcumque	quis, quī, quīdam, aliquis, aliquī, quisque, quispiam	quisquam, ūllus, °aliquisquam	nēmō, nihil, nūllus	alter, alius
dual						uter	utercumque	alteruter, uterque		neuter
place	hīc	istīc	illīc	ibī̆	ibī̆dem	ubī̆	ubiubi, ubī̆cumque	alicubī, ubīque, uspiam	usquam	nusquam	alibī, aliās
source	hinc	istinc	illinc	inde	indidem	unde	undecumque, undeunde	alicunde, undique			aliunde
destination	hūc, °hōrsum	istūc, °istōrsum	illūc, °illōrsum	eō	eōdem	quō, quōrsum	quōquō, quōcumque	aliquō, quōpiam, °aliquōvorsum	quōquam		aliō, aliōrsum
method, means, path, place	hāc	istāc	illāc	eā	eādem	quā	quāquā, quācumque	aliquā, quāque		nēquāquam, haudquāquam	aliā
manner	hōc modō	istō modō	illō modō	ita, sīc, eō modō	item, itidem	ut, quī, quō modō, quōmodo, quemadmodum	utut, utcumque, quōmodocumque	utique, quī, quōdam modō, aliquō modō	ūllō modō	nūllō modō	aliter, aliōquī, alterō/aliō modō
time	num, nunc		ōlim	tum, tunc	simul	quandō, ‡cum	cumque, quandōcumque, quandōque	quondam, aliquandō, quandōque	umquam	numquam	aliās
exact time	hac hōra	ista hōra	illa hōra	ea hōra	eadem hōra	quota hōra	quotacumque hōra				altera/alia hōra
quantity				tam	†tamen, †tandem	quam	†quamquam	aliquam
size				tantus	tantusdem	quantus	quantuscumque	aliquantus
quality				tālis		quālis	quālis, quāliscumque	aliquālis
number				tot	totidem	quot	quotquot, quotcumque	aliquot
order				totus		quotus	quotuscumque
repetition				totiēns		quotiēns	quotiēnscumque	aliquotiēns
multiplication				totuplex		quotuplex
† Turned conjunction with original meaning somewhat dissimulated ° Rare ‡only used as a conjunction, not as an interrogative

Descendants

• 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

• “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)

Etymology 2

See quī (relative pronoun and interrogative adjective).

Pronoun

quam

1. accusative singular feminine of quī

Adjective

quam

1. accusative singular feminine of quī

Etymology 3

See quis (pronoun).

Pronoun

quam

1. accusative singular feminine of quis

Middle Dutch

Verb

quam

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

Middle English

Pronoun

quam

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