I don't understand how quisque and quique are different. How can a pronoun referring to all people be singular or plural? In which situations would one use either of these?
asked Feb 5, 2017 at 1:47
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2FWIW, Gildersleeve and Lodge say the plural of quisque is "rare until post-classical times". I'm not sure I've ever seen it.– TKRCommented Feb 7, 2017 at 5:39
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1 Answer
Latin does indeed think about number slightly different than we do in English--or Latin reflects subtleties of reference in a slightly different way. Quisque is the indefinite pronoun, masculine nominative singular. Quique is the indefinite pronoun, masculine nominative plural. Quisque clearly means "every [single] one" or "each one." Quique has the same meaning, but distributed across a group: "every [single] one [of this group]," or "each one [of this group]." Does that make sense?
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4I don't think I see the distinction -- doesn't "every one" necessarily imply some group? It would be good to cite some examples that show the difference.– TKRCommented Feb 7, 2017 at 5:44