ecquis

Latin

Etymology

From ec- + quis.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈɛk.kʷɪs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈɛk.kʷis]

Pronoun

ecquis or ecquī (feminine ecqua or ecquae, neuter ecquid); interrogative pronoun

1. (in direct questions) Is there anyone who...?, Is there anybody who...?

   Synonym: num quis

   Ecquis me vivit fortunatior?

   Is there another man as fortunate as I am?

   Heus ecquis in villa est?

   Is there anybody in the farm?

   • Plautus, Menaechmi, actus IV. In: Plautus with an English translation by Paul Nixon, vol. II of five volumes, 1917, p. 432f.:

     heus, ecquis hic est ianitor?

     Hullo! Anyone minding the door here?

2. (in indirect questions) whether anyone/anybody

   Synonym: num quis

   Percontabor ecquis adolescentem nouerit.

   I will ask whether any man did know the young fellow.

Usage notes

• Becomes infrequent after Cicero's era.
• When used as a pronoun, the nominative singular is usually ecquis. However, the form ecquī occurs as a nominative singular pronoun/substantive in Plautus and in Livy.
• 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.
• Only certain forms are well attested in Classical Latin.
  • The dative eccui is rare, being found only twice, in Cicero's Pro Murena and Philippicae, per current editions of these texts.
  • The following forms are unattested in Classical Latin (although some grammars list them and they may perhaps be findable in more recent texts): genitive singular eccuius, masculine/neuter genitive plural ecquōrum, feminine genitive plural ecquārum, dative/ablative plural ecquibus (some grammars list the alternative form ecqueis, i.e. ecquīs). The genitive eccuius occurs in a proposed reading of Boethius's Philosophiae consolatio (where other editions have 'et cuius').

Declension

Interrogative pronoun.

	singular				plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	ecquis ecquī	ecqua ecquae	ecquid		ecquī	ecquae	ecqua ecquae
genitive	eccuius1				—
dative	eccui2				—
accusative	ecquem	ecquam	ecquod		ecquōs	ecquās	ecqua ecquae
ablative	ecquō ecquī	ecquā ecquī	ecquō ecquī		—
vocative	—				—

¹Unattested in classical Latin.
²Attested only twice in Classical Latin.

Determiner

ecquis or ecquī (feminine ecqua or ecquae, neuter ecquod); interrogative pronoun

1. (alternative nominative singular form of determiner ecquī) (is there) any?

   Investigent ecqua virgo sit, an mulier.

   Let them look whether there is any maiden or woman.

   • Plautus, Amphitruo, actus II. In: Plautus with an English translation by Paul Nixon, vol. I of five volumes, 1916, p. 90f.:

     Nunc quidem praeter nos nemo est. dic mihi verum serio:
     ecquis alius Sosia intust, qui mei similis siet?

     (to Alcmena, confidentially) Now then, ma'am, no one's here besides us. (elaborately makes sure of it) Do be serious and tell me the truth—is there another Sosia inside who's just like me?

   • Plautus, Mostellaria, actus II. In: Plautus with an English translation by Paul Nixon, vol. III of five volumes, 1924, p. 324f.:

     ecquis homo est, qui facere argenti cupiat aliquantum lucri,
     qui hodie sese excruciari meam vicem possit pati ?

     Anyone anxious to make a bit of easy money by taking my place at an execution ?

   • Titus Livius, ab urbe condita libri, liber XXIII. In: Livy with an English translation; translated by Frank Gardner Moore, volume VI of thirteen volumes containing books XXIII—XXV, 1940, p. 38–41:

     Et ne omnia ipse mirer—mihi quoque enim, quoniam respondi Himilconi, interrogare ius fasque est—velim seu Himilco seu Mago respondeat, cum ad internecionem Romani imperii pugnatum ad Cannas sit constetque in defectione totam Italiam esse, primum, ecquis Latini nominis populus defecerit ad nos, deinde, ecquis homo ex quinque et triginta tribubus ad Hannibalem transfugerit?

     And, not to have all the amazement to myself—for it is right and proper for me too, having answered Himilco, to turn questioner,—I should like either Himilco or Mago to answer, in the first place, whether any state among the Latins has revolted to us, although the battle of Cannae meant the utter destruction of the Roman power, and it is known that all Italy is in revolt; in the second place, whether any man out of the thirty-five tribes has deserted to Hannibal.

   • Publius Vergilius Maro, Ecologae, ecologa X. In: Virgil with an English translation by H. Rushton Fairclough, vol. I of two volumes, 1916, p. 72f.:

     "ecquis erit modus?" inquit.

     "Will there be no end?" he cried.

Usage notes

• Forms other than the nominative singular are all shared with equī; see there for quotations. The nominative singular forms can also be used interchangeably.

Declension

See ecquī.

Derived terms

• ecquid
• ecquisnam

See also

• ecquī
• aliquis

Further reading

• “ecquis, ecqui, ecquae, ecqua, ecquid, ecquod” in volume 5, part 2, column 51, line 77 in the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (TLL Open Access), Berlin (formerly Leipzig): De Gruyter (formerly Teubner), 1900–present
• “ecquis”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ecquis”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• ecquis in Dizionario Latino, Olivetti
• “ecquis”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Friedrich Neue; C. Wagener (1892), Formenlehre der lateinischen Sprache: Adjektiva, Numeralia, Pronomina, Adverbia, Präpositonen, Konjunctionen, Interjectionen, 3rd edition, volume 2, Berlin, page 482