# quidam
## English
### Etymology

From Latin quīdam.

### Noun

quidam (plural quidams)
* 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
### Etymology

From Latin quīdam.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ki.dam/
* Audio:(file)

### Noun

quidam m (plural quidams)
* used to designate persons whose name are unknown or not mentioned
* a person whose identity is not indicated, in a conversation, a writing
** 2015 January, Virginie Despentes, Vernon Subutex, volume 1, Éditions Grasset, →ISBN:Noël regarde autour de lui, cherche les yeux de ses potes, il est hilare. Ils savent que ça ne présage rien de bon pour le quidam.(please add an English translation of this quotation)
* individual

### Further reading

* “quidam”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

## Latin
### Etymology

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

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈkʷiː.dam/, [ˈkʷiːd̪ä̃ˑ]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈkwi.dam/, [ˈkwiːd̪äm]

### Pronoun

quīdam (feminine quaedam, neuter quiddam); relative/interrogative determiner (with m optionally → n in compounds) with an indeclinable portion
* 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.
$^1$An alternative masculine nominative/accusative plural form quēsdam occurs in Accius. $^2$The genitive singular was spelled quoiusdam before the Augustan period. $^3$The dative singular was spelled quoidam before the Augustan period. $^4$The dative/ablative plural has a rare alternative form quīsdam/queisdam.

### Adjective

quīdam (feminine quaedam, neuter quoddam); relative/interrogative determiner (with m optionally → n in compounds) with an indeclinable portion
* 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.
$^1$The genitive singular was spelled quoiusdam before the Augustan period. $^2$The dative singular was spelled quoidam before the Augustan period. $^3$The dative/ablative plural has a rare alternative form quīsdam/queisdam.

#### See also

| type | demonstrative | demonstrative | demonstrative | anaphoric | identity | interrogative/ relative | indefinite | indefinite | indefinite | indefinite | indefinite | negative | other |
| type | proximal | medial | distal | anaphoric | identity | interrogative/ relative | relative | indefinite | free choice | universal | negative polarity | negative | other |
| basic | hic | iste, istic | ille, illic | is | ipse, īdem | quis/quī | quisquis, quīcumque | quis, quī, quīdam, aliquis, aliquī, quispiam | quīvis, quīlibet | quisque | quisquam, ūllus, °aliquisquam | nēmō, nihil, nūllus | alius |
| dual | | | | | | uter | utercumque | alteruter | utervīs, uterlibet | uterque | | neuter | alter |
| place | hīc | istīc | illīc | ibī̆ | ibī̆dem | ubī̆ | ubiubi, ubī̆cumque | alicubī, uspiam | ubivīs, ubilibet | ubīque | usquam | nusquam, nūllibī | alibī, aliās |
| source | hinc | istinc | illinc | inde | indidem | unde | undecumque, undeunde | alicunde | °undelibet | undique | | | aliunde |
| destination | hūc, °hōrsum | istūc, °istōrsum | illūc, °illōrsum | eō | eōdem | quō, quōrsum | quōquō, quōcumque | aliquō, quōpiam, °aliquōvorsum | quōvīs, quōlibet | | quōquam | nusquam, nūllōrsum | aliō, aliōrsum |
| method, means, path, place | hāc | istāc | illāc | eā | eādem | quā | quāquā, quācumque | aliquā | quāvīs, quālibet | quāque | | nēquāquam, haudquāquam | aliā |
| manner | hōc modō | istō modō | illō modō | ita, sīc, eō modō | item, itidem | ut, quī, quō modō, quōmodo, quemadmodum | utut, utcumque, quōmodocumque | quī, quōdam modō, aliquō modō | quōmodolibet | utīque | ūllō modō | nūllō modō | aliter, aliōquī, alterō/aliō modō |
| time | num, nunc | | ōlim | tum, tunc | simul | quandō, ‡cum | cumque, quandōcumque, quandōque | quondam, aliquandō | quandōlibet | quandōque | umquam | numquam | aliās |
| quantity | | | | tam | †tamen, †tandem | quam | †quamquam | aliquam | quamvīs, quamlibet | | | | |
| size | | | | tantus | tantusdem | quantus | quantuscumque | aliquantus | quantusvīs, quantuslibet | | | | |
| quality | | | | tālis | | quālis | quālis, quāliscumque | aliquālis | quālislibet | | | | |
| number | | | | tot | totidem | quot | quotquot, quotcumque | aliquot | quotlibet | | | | |
| order | | | | totus | | quotus | quotuscumque | aliquotus | quotuslibet | | | | |
| repetition | | | | totiēns | | quotiēns | quotiēnscumque | aliquotiēns | quotiēnslibet | | | | |
| multiplication | | | | totuplex | | quotuplex | | | | | | | |
| † Turned conjunction with original meaning somewhat dissimulated ° Rare ‡only used as a conjunction, not as an interrogative ||||||||||||||

### 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