kʷo-

Also kʷi-. Stem of relative and interrogative pronouns.

Derivatives include who, whether, either, quorum, quip, and quality.

1.

a. who, whose, whom, from Old English hwā, hwæs, hwǣm, who, whose, whom, from Germanic personal pronouns *hwas, *hwasa, *hwam;

b. what, from Old English hwæt, what, from Germanic pronoun *hwat;

c. why, from Old English hwȳ, why, from Germanic adverb *hwī;

d. which, from Old English hwilc, hwelc, which, from Germanic relative pronoun *hwa-līk- (*līk-, body, form; see līk-);

e. how, from Old English hū, how, from Germanic adverb *hwō;

f.

(i) when, from Old English hwenne, hwanne, when;

(ii) whence, from Old English hwanon, whence. Both (i) and (ii) from Germanic adverb *hwan-;

g. whither, from Old English hwider, whither, from Germanic adverb *hwithrē;

h. where, from Old English hwǣr, where, from Germanic adverb *hwar-. a-h all from Germanic *hwa-, *hwi-.

2.

a. whether; neither, from Old English hwæther, hwether, which of two, whether;

b. either, from Old English ǣghwæther, ǣther, either, from Germanic phrase *aiwo gihwatharaz, “ever each of two” (*aiwo, *aiwi, ever, and *gi- from *ga-, collective prefix; see aiw- and kom). Both a and b from Germanic *hwatharaz.

3. qua, quibble, quorum, from Latin quī, who.

4. hidalgo, quiddity, quidnunc, quip; kickshaw, from Latin quid, what, something.

5. quasi, from Latin quasi, as if (< quam + sī, if; see swo-), from quam, as, than, how.

6. quodlibet, from Latin quod, what.

7. Suffixed form *kʷo-ti.

a. quote, quotidian, quotient; aliquot, from Latin quot, how many;

b. further suffixed form *kʷo-ty-o-. posology, from Greek posos, how much.

8. quondam, from Latin quom, when.

9. cooncan, from Latin quem, whom.

10. quantity, from Latin quantus, how great.

11. quality; kickshaw, from Latin quālis, of what kind.

12. cue², from Latin quandō, when (from *kʷām + -dō, to, til; see de-).

13. neuter, from Latin uter, either of two, ultimately from *kʷo-tero- (becoming -cuter in such compounds as necuter, neither, from which uter was abstracted out by false segmentation).

14. ubiquity, from Latin ubi, where, ultimately from locative case *kʷo-bhi (becoming -cubi in such compounds as alicubi, somewhere, from which ubi was abstracted out by false segmentation, perhaps under the influence of ibi, there).

15. cheese³, from Old Persian *ciš-ciy, something (< *kʷid-kʷid).

 

[Pokorny kᵘ̯o- 644.]

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