quia
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Etymology tree
Borrowed from Latin quia (“because”).
Adjective
[edit]quia (not comparable)
- (Lutheranism) Relating to the belief that the Book of Concord is authoritative because it faithfully describes the Christian faith as revealed in the Bible.
Coordinate terms
[edit]Adverb
[edit]quia (not comparable)
- In a quia manner.
Latin
[edit]Etymology 1
[edit]Old neuter plural accusative case of quis, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷih₂. Corresponds both formally and functionally to Megara Ancient Greek σᾰ́ (sắ, “what?”), and functionally to ὅτι (hóti); this and other evidence point to the Greek origin of the use of quia as a subordinator, in contrast to quod where there's stronger evidence for a native development.[1][2]
Alternative forms
[edit]- qua (Late Latin, manuscripts and inscriptions)[3]
Pronunciation
[edit]- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): [ˈkʷi.a]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): [ˈkʷiː.a]
Conjunction
[edit]quia
- because, due to the fact that, for
- c. 347 CE – 420 CE, Hieronymus, Vulgate Tobiae.1.23:
- Tobias vero cum filio suo et cum uxore fugiens nudus latuit quia multi diligebant eum
- But Tobias fleeing naked away with his son and with his wife, lay concealed, for many loved him.
- Tobias vero cum filio suo et cum uxore fugiens nudus latuit quia multi diligebant eum
- c. 347 CE – 420 CE, Hieronymus, Vulgate Tobiae.3.19:
- et aut ego indigna fui illis aut illi mihi forsitan digni non fuerunt quia forsitan viro alio conservasti me
- And either I was unworthy of them, or they perhaps were not worthy of me: because perhaps thou hast kept me for another man,
- et aut ego indigna fui illis aut illi mihi forsitan digni non fuerunt quia forsitan viro alio conservasti me
- c. 1135 – 1153, Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermōnēs super Cantica Canticōrum 84.6:
- Nōn timeō, quia amō.
- I am not afraid because I love.
- Nōn timeō, quia amō.
- (Late Latin, subordinator) (the fact) that
- c. 347 CE – 420 CE, Hieronymus, Vulgate Lucas.1.58:
- et audierunt vicini et cognati eius quia magnificavit Dominus misericordiam suam cum illa et congratulabantur ei
- Her neighbors and her relatives heard that the Lord had magnified his mercy towards her, and they rejoiced with her.
- et audierunt vicini et cognati eius quia magnificavit Dominus misericordiam suam cum illa et congratulabantur ei
Usage notes
[edit]- Usually tells of the determining reason, while quoniam (“since”) introduces any causal circumstance.
- Differs from the general-purpose subordinator quod in being more explicitly causal.
Derived terms
[edit]Related terms
[edit]Descendants
[edit]All meaning 'because', but with a phonetic shape reflecting a crossing with quam (“how”):[4]
References
[edit]- ^ Pierluigi Cuzzolin (5 August 2013), “Some remarks on quia as a subordinator after verbs of saying and thinking”, in Journal of Latin Linguistics[1], volume 12, number 1, , →ISSN, pages 51–69
- ^ Pierluigi Cuzzolin (2013), “The Latin construction dicere quod revisited”, in Graeco-Latina Brunensia[2], volume 18, number 1, retrieved 9 April 2021, pages 23-38
- ^ B. Löfstedt, 'Die betonten Hiatusvokale in Wörtern vom Typus pius, tuus, meus', Eranos 60 (1962), page 89
- ^ Väänänen 1981: 163
- Palmer, L.R. 1906. The Latin language. London: Faber and Faber.
- Väänänen, Veikko. 1981. Introduction au latin vulgaire. Paris: Klincksieck.
Further reading
[edit]- “quia”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “quia”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- “quia”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
Etymology 2
[edit]Univerbation of quī (“whereby, wherewith; Old instrumental case of quis, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷíh₁”) + iam (“anymore”) with iambic shortening of iam, Compare to quasi and quoniam.
Pronunciation
[edit]- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): [ˈkʷi.a]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): [ˈkʷiː.a]
Conjunction
[edit]quia (+ ind)
- (chiefly in the positive) with that, to any extent that, anyway that
- (chiefly in the positive) because that
Adverb
[edit]quia (not comparable)
Related terms
[edit]Further reading
[edit]- quia, in ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ [Logeion] Dictionaries for Ancient Greek and Latin (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese), University of Chicago, since 2011
Spanish
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Interjection
[edit]¡quia!
- (colloquial, Spain) denotes incredulity
Further reading
[edit]- “quia”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025
Categories:
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *kʷ-
- English terms derived from Proto-Italic
- English terms borrowed from Latin
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- English uncomparable adjectives
- en:Lutheranism
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- en:Protestantism
- Latin terms inherited from Proto-Indo-European
- Latin terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- Latin 2-syllable words
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- Late Latin
- Latin subordinating conjunctions
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- Latin terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *kʷ-
- Latin adverbs
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- Spanish 1-syllable words
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- Rhymes:Spanish/a
- Rhymes:Spanish/a/1 syllable
- Spanish lemmas
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- Spanish colloquialisms
- Peninsular Spanish
