quidam

English

Etymology

From Latin quīdam.

Noun

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

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ki.dam/
  • (file)

Noun

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

Latin

Etymology

From quis + -dam (indefinite adverbial suffix). Compare quondam (at one time).

Pronunciation

Pronoun

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
    • (Can we date this quote?), Seneca, Epistulae ad Luculium, III, 28:
      Quidam vitiis gloriantur.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Usage notes

Not to be confused with quidem.

Declension

Indefinite pronoun.

Number Singular Plural
Case / Gender Masculine Feminine Neuter Masculine Feminine Neuter
Nominative quīdam quaedam quiddam quīdam1 quaedam
Genitive cuiusdam2 quōrundam
quōrumdam
quārundam
quārumdam
quōrundam
quōrumdam
Dative cuidam3 quibusdam4
Accusative quendam
quemdam
quandam
quamdam
quiddam quōsdam1 quāsdam quaedam
Ablative quōdam quādam quōdam quibusdam4

1An alternative masculine nominative/accusative plural form quēsdam occurs in Accius.
2The genitive singular was spelled quoiusdam before the Augustan period.
3The dative singular was spelled quoidam before the Augustan period.
4The dative/ablative plural has a rare alternative form quīsdam/queisdam.

Adjective

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

  1. a 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, §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

Indefinite determiner.

Number Singular Plural
Case / Gender Masculine Feminine Neuter Masculine Feminine Neuter
Nominative quīdam quaedam quoddam quīdam quaedam
Genitive cuiusdam1 quōrundam
quōrumdam
quārundam
quārumdam
quōrundam
quōrumdam
Dative cuidam2 quibusdam3
Accusative quendam
quemdam
quandam
quamdam
quoddam quōsdam quāsdam quaedam
Ablative quōdam quādam quōdam quibusdam3

1The genitive singular was spelled quoiusdam before the Augustan period.
2The dative singular was spelled quoidam before the Augustan period.
3The dative/ablative plural has a rare alternative form quīsdam/queisdam.

See also

References

  • 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, London: Macmillan and Co.
    • I have a few words to say on this: mihi quaedam dicenda sunt de hac re
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