ecqui

Latin

Determiner

ecquī or ecquis (feminine ecqua or ecquae, neuter ecquod); indeclinable portion with a relative/interrogative pronoun (interrogative pronoun)

1. (determiner) any
2. (pronoun) anyone, anything

Declension

Indeclinable portion with a relative/interrogative pronoun.

Number	Singular				Plural
Case / Gender	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter		Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	ecquī1 ecquis	ecqua ecquae	ecquod		ecquī1	ecquae	ecqua ecquae
Genitive	—				—
Dative	eccui1
Accusative	ecquem	ecquam	ecquod		ecquōs	ecquās	ecquae ecqua2
Ablative	ecquō	ecquā	ecquō		—

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).
²When used as an indefinite word (pronoun or adjective), the feminine nominative singular and neuter nominative/accusative plural is usually qua (with short ă) instead of quae. Indefinite quă is generally only found directly after sī, nisi, num, or nē and may be considered to be either enclitic to the preceding word or (in Priscian's view) forming a compound with it; accordingly, sīqua, numqua, and nēqua are sometimes written together (as also are the masculines sīquis, numquis, and nēquis). The form quă is never used for the feminine plural, nor for any form of the relative pronoun or of the interrogative pronoun or adjective.

Usage notes

• The declension is similar to aliquī. In particular, the feminine nominative singular and neuter nominative/accusative plural forms are normally ecqua, but ecquae is also found. The feminine nominative plural can only be ecquae.
• The genitive singular as well as genitive, dative and ablative plural are missing.
• Normatively, ecquī is a determiner (used adjectivally) and ecquis is a pronoun (used substantively), but the opposite usages can be found, even among the best Classical writers.
  • Plautus, Stichus, actus I. In: Plautus with an English translation by Paul Nixon, vol. V of five volumes, 1952, p. 28f.:

    qui cena poscit? ecqui poscit prandio?

    Who offers a dinner? (silence) Anyone offer a lunch? (more silence)

• ecquī is attested in the plural:
  • Plautus, Pseudolus, actus I. In: Plautus with an English translation by Paul Nixon, vol. IV of five volumes, 1930, p. 200f.:

    Ecquas viginti minas
    paritas ut auferas a me?

    And you are making ready to get eighty pounds out of me ?

  • Publius Ovidius Naso, Ex Ponto, liber IV. In: Ovid with an English translation, Tristia • Ex Ponto, by Arthur Leslie Wheeler, 1939, p. 464f.:

    ecquos tu silices, ecquod, carissime, ferrum
    duritiae confers, Albinovane, meae ?

    Can you compare any flint, Albinovanus, any iron to my endurance ?

See also

• ecquis

References

• “ecqui”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ecqui”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• ecqui in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette, page 570.