quidam
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Noun[edit]
quidam (plural quidams)
- A nobody; a person of no importance. [from 16th c.]
- 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays, III.12:
- A quidam gallant determined upon a time to surprise both my house and my selfe.
- 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays, III.12:
French[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
quidam m (plural quidams)
- Used to designate persons whose name are unknown or not mentioned
- Person whose identity is not indicated, in a conversation, a writing
- individual
Further reading[edit]
- “quidam”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
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
- someone, a certain one/thing; something
- Quidam vitiis gloriantur.
- Some people boast with their vices. (Seneca, Epistulae ad Luculium, III,28)
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 | quīdam | quaedam | ||
Genitive | cuiusdam | quōrundam quōrumdam |
quārundam quārumdam |
quōrundam quōrumdam | |||
Dative | cuidam | quibusdam quīsdam | |||||
Accusative | quendam | quandam | quiddam | quōsdam | quāsdam | quaedam | |
Ablative | quōdam | quādam | quōdam | quibusdam quīsdam |
Adjective[edit]
quīdam (feminine quaedam, neuter quoddam); relative/interrogative pronoun (with m optionally → n in compounds) with an indeclinable portion
- 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).
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 | quīdam | quaedam | ||
Genitive | cuiusdam | quōrundam quōrumdam |
quārundam quārumdam |
quōrundam quōrumdam | |||
Dative | cuidam | quibusdam quīsdam | |||||
Accusative | quendam quemdam |
quamdam | quoddam | quōsdam | quāsdam | quaedam | |
Ablative | quōdam | quādam | quōdam | quibusdam quīsdam |
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- “quidam”, in Charlton T[homas] Lewis; Charles [Lancaster] Short (1879) […] A New Latin Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.; Cincinnati, Ohio; Chicago, Ill.: American Book Company; 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[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
- I have a few words to say on this: mihi quaedam dicenda sunt de hac re
- I have a few words to say on this: mihi quaedam dicenda sunt de hac re
Categories:
- English terms derived from Latin
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- French 2-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French terms with audio links
- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French countable nouns
- French masculine nouns
- Latin words suffixed with -dam
- Latin 2-syllable words
- Latin terms with IPA pronunciation
- Latin terms with Ecclesiastical IPA pronunciation
- Latin lemmas
- Latin pronouns
- Latin terms with usage examples
- Latin adjectives
- Latin words in Meissner and Auden's phrasebook