quelcom
Catalan
FWOTD – 21 January 2013
Etymology
Inherited from Old Catalan queacom, queucom, calcom, caucom, from Latin quale-cumque or quiddam-cumque, although Spitzer suggests quale-quomodo. Compare Occitan calacom, quezacom, queacom.
Pronunciation
Pronoun
quelcom
- (formal) something
- Synonyms: alguna cosa, res, qualque cosa, (proscribed) algo
- 1919, Claudi Planas i Font, En Pere i altres contes:
- ...tenia quelcom de brutal l'espectacle d'aquell home decrèpit...
- ...there was something brutal about the spectacle of that decrepit man...
- (formal, in questions) anything
Usage notes
- In informal speech alguna cosa, res or the nonstandard Castilianism algo are more common.
Adverb
quelcom
Further reading
- “quelcom”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
- “quelcom”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025.
- “quelcom” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
- “quelcom” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.