quicumque

LatinEdit

Alternative formsEdit

EtymologyEdit

From quī +‎ -cumque. Quicunque is a later development reflecting the assimilated pronunciation.

PronunciationEdit

PronounEdit

quīcumque (feminine quaecumque, neuter quodcumque); relative/interrogative pronoun with an indeclinable portion

  1. whoever, whatever
    • 2022 November 9, Wikipedia contributors, “Petrus Ramus”, in English Wikipedia[1], Wikimedia Foundation:
      Quaecumque ab Aristotele dicta essent, commentitia esse
      Whatever things have been stated by Aristotle, they are false.
  1. whosoever, whatsoever

Usage notesEdit

  • quīcumque is used both adjectivally and substantivally.
  • Cato is cited with the archaic plural form quescumque (from ques).

DeclensionEdit

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).

QuotationsEdit

  • Gajus Sallustius Crispus, Bellum Jugurthinum In: Sallust with an English translation by J. C. Rolfe, 1921, p. 362f.:
    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 on any terms.
  • 43 B.C., letter of Asinius Pollio to Cicero. In: Cicero The Letters to his Friends with an English translation by W. Glynn Williams, vol. II of three volumes, 1952, p. 402f.:
    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;
  • Propertius, liber IV (of four books). In: Propertius with an English translation by H. E. Butler, 1916, p. 262f.:
    Hoc quodcumque vides, hospes, qua maxima Roma est,
    ante Phrygem Aenean collis et herba fuit;
    All that thou beholdest, stranger, where mighty Rome lies spread, was grass and hill before the coming of Phrygian Aeneas;
  • Cornelius Nepos, Datames
    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. [1]
    for Mithridates promised the king that he would kill Datames, if the king would allow him to do with impunity whatever he wished, and would give him a pledge to that effect with his right hand after the manner of the Persians. [2]

Related termsEdit

DescendantsEdit

  • English: quicumque vult, quicunque vult

ReferencesEdit

  1. ^ Cornelius Nepos. Erklärt von Karl Nipperdey. Kleinere Ausgabe, 2nd edition, Berlin, 1856, p. 78 (also at The Latin Library)
  2. ^ The Tertullian Project: Cornelius Nepos: Lives of Eminent Commanders