quidam

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Latin quīdam.

Noun[edit]

quidam (plural quidams)

  1. A nobody; a person of no importance. [from 16th c.]
    • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, translated by John Florio, Essays, III.12:
      A quidam gallant determined upon a time to surprise both my house and my selfe.
    • 1792, Thomas Holcroft, Anna St. Ives, vol. IV, letter 77:
      She singing a miserable ditty, a bead-roll of lamentable rhymes, strung together by this Quidam!—This Henley!

French[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ki.dam/
  • (file)

Noun[edit]

quidam m (plural quidams)

  1. used to designate persons whose name are unknown or not mentioned
  2. a person whose identity is not indicated, in a conversation, a writing
  3. individual

Further reading[edit]

Latin[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From quī +‎ -dam (demonstrative ending).

Pronunciation[edit]

Pronoun[edit]

quīdam (feminine quaedam, neuter quiddam); relative/interrogative pronoun (with m optionally → n in compounds) with an indeclinable portion

  1. someone, a certain one/thing; something

Usage notes[edit]

Not to be confused with quidem.

Declension[edit]

Relative/interrogative pronoun (with m optionally → n in compounds) with an indeclinable portion.

Number Singular Plural
Case / Gender Masculine Feminine Neuter Masculine Feminine Neuter
Nominative quīdam quaedam quiddam quīdam1 quaedam
Genitive cuiusdam1 quōrundam
quōrumdam
quārundam
quārumdam
quōrundam
quōrumdam
Dative cuidam1 quibusdam
quīsdam1
Accusative quendam quandam quiddam quōsdam quāsdam quaedam
Ablative quōdam quādam quōdam quibusdam
quīsdam1

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).

Adjective[edit]

quīdam (feminine quaedam, neuter quoddam); relative/interrogative pronoun (with m optionally → n in compounds) with an indeclinable portion

  1. certain (person or thing), some (person or thing), one (in the sense of "a specific" person or thing not previously introduced in the present discourse)
    • c. 62 BCE, Cicero, chapter 1, in Pro Archia Poeta[1], §2:
      etenim omnes artes, quae ad humanitatem pertinent, habent quoddam commune vinculum et quasi cognatione quadam inter se continentur.
      Indeed all the arts, which pertain to humanity, have some common link and by a certain almost-kindred are held together.

Declension[edit]

Relative/interrogative pronoun (with m optionally → n in compounds) with an indeclinable portion.

Number Singular Plural
Case / Gender Masculine Feminine Neuter Masculine Feminine Neuter
Nominative quīdam quaedam quoddam quīdam1 quaedam
Genitive cuiusdam1 quōrundam
quōrumdam
quārundam
quārumdam
quōrundam
quōrumdam
Dative cuidam1 quibusdam
quīsdam1
Accusative quendam
quemdam
quandam
quamdam
quoddam quōsdam quāsdam quaedam
Ablative quōdam quādam quōdam quibusdam
quīsdam1

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).

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  • quidam”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • quidam”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • quidam 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)
  • quidam in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
  • Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book[2], London: Macmillan and Co.
    • I have a few words to say on this: mihi quaedam dicenda sunt de hac re