Latin edit

Alternative forms edit

Etymology edit

Perhaps from *quomquam, from quom (later cum) and quam (any). Compare cumque.

Pronunciation edit

Adverb edit

umquam (not comparable)

  1. (chiefly in the negative) at any time, ever; (with negative) never
    • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 2.246-247:
      “Tunc etiam fātīs aperit Cassandra futūrīs
      ōra deī iussū nōn umquam crēdita Teucrīs.”
      “Then once more Cassandra had spoken, revealing the future: A voice [which], by decree of a god, the Trojans were never to believe.”
      (See also: Cassandra.)

Usage notes edit

Most frequently in negative clauses, sometimes also in interrogations and in conditional clauses; but very seldom in affirmations

Synonyms edit

Derived terms edit

Related terms edit

Descendants edit

Several forms reflect the addition of an adverbial /-s/.

  • Balkan Romance:
    • Romanian: încă
  • Italo-Romance:
  • Gallo-Italic:
  • Gallo-Romance:
  • Occitano-Romance:

References edit

Further reading edit

  • umquam”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • umquam”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • umquam in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
  • Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
    • nothing will ever make me forgetful of him: memoriam eius nulla umquam delebit (obscurabit) oblivio (Fam. 2. 1)