Where does “quidam” come from?
Quidam comes from Latin quidam, meaning "a certain one" or "someone," ultimately derived from the interrogative pronoun qui combined with the particle dam.
quidam (English): A nobody; a person of no importance
Definitions
- A nobody; a person of no importance
Ancestry of “quidam”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Latin | quidam | someone, a certain one/thing; something; Certain... |
| 2 | Latin | -dam | — |
| 3 | Translingual | da | — |
| 4 | English | deca- | Greek number... |
| 5 | French | déca- | deca- |
| 6 | Latin | decās | a decade (period of ten years) |
| 7 | Ancient Greek | δεκάς | the number ten; a group of ten, decade |
| 8 | Ancient Greek | -ᾰ́ς | group of |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | -ónts | Derives nouns denoting body parts |
| 10 | Hungarian | önt | to pour; to cast; accusative singular of ön |
| 11 | Hungarian | ön | you |
| 12 | Hungarian | ön- | self- |
| 13 | Turkish | ön | front |
| 14 | Ottoman Turkish | اوك | voice (of human or animal); sound |
| 15 | Proto-Turkic | ǖn | sound, voice |