Timeline for Can "quam" be used as a mere intensifier to a superlative?
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| Oct 23, 2018 at 17:45 | comment | added | Cerberus♦ | @Anonym: Well, I think that's what it and the word "how" are normally called, but I would say it hovers in between interrogative adverb and conjunction (as many words do). In either case, it introduces an (elliptical) clause. So in the o, quam pulcherrima laus example, the original construction from which this elliptical use is derived is probably something like o, [mirabile est] quam pulcherrima laus [sit/est], or similar. So in Augustine, it is probably best thought of as [mirabile est] quam plurimi, "it is amazing how very many", which can then be liberally translated as "very many". | |
| Oct 23, 2018 at 17:03 | comment | added | Anonym | @Cerberus But is this quam 'how' really an interrogative? No question has been asked and no answer is expected. | |
| Oct 23, 2018 at 1:17 | comment | added | Cerberus♦ | Ah! Your answer has quotations where quam is translated as "how", which I would call an interrogative. The "very" in those translations comes from the superlatives themselves. Even so, I think you've put us on the right track: I think quam in 'my' Augustinian quotation is indeed the same quam, to be translated as "indeed, how very many". That makes sense; I wonder why I didn't see it. Perhaps it was the slightly liberal translation "indeed very many" that somehow led me astray. | |
| Oct 23, 2018 at 1:08 | history | edited | Hugh | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Oct 23, 2018 at 0:45 | history | answered | Hugh | CC BY-SA 4.0 |