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Origin and history of quidnunc

quidnunc(n.)

"gossip-monger, one who is curious to know everything that happens," 1709 (as two words), etymologically "what now?" From Latin quid "what?" (neuter of interrogative pronoun quis "who?" from PIE root *kwo-, stem of relative and interrogative pronouns) and nunc "now" (see now), to describe someone forever asking "What's the news?"

also from 1709

Entries linking to quidnunc

now(adv.)

Middle English nou, from Old English nu "at the present time, at this moment, immediately; now that," also used as an interjection and as an introductory word; from Proto-Germanic *nu (source also of Old Norse nu, Dutch nu, Old Frisian nu, German nun, Gothic nu "now"), from PIE *nu "now" (source also of Sanskrit and Avestan nu, Old Persian nuram, Hittite nuwa, Greek nu, nun, Latin nunc, Old Church Slavonic nyne, Lithuanian nū, Old Irish nu-). Perhaps originally "newly, recently," and related to the root of new.

Since Old English it has been often merely emphatic, without any temporal sense (as in the emphatic use of now then, though that phrase originally meant "at the present time," also "at once" early 13c.; in early Middle English it often was written as one word).

As a noun, "the present time," from late 14c. The adjective meaning "up to date" was revived by 1967, but the word was used also as an adjective with the sense of "current" from late 14c. through 18c. Now and then "occasionally, at one time and another" is from mid-15c.; now or never is attested from early 13c. (nu oþer neure).

*kwo-

also *kwi-, Proto-Indo-European root, stem of relative and interrogative pronouns.

It might form all or part of: cheese (n.2) "a big thing;" cue (n.1) "stage direction;" either; hidalgo; how; kickshaw; neither; neuter; qua; quality; quandary; quantity; quasar; quasi; quasi-; query; quibble; quiddity; quidnunc; quip; quodlibet; quondam; quorum; quote; quotidian; quotient; ubi; ubiquity; what; when; whence; where; whether; which; whither; who; whoever; whom; whose; why.

It might also be the source of: Sanskrit kah "who, which;" Avestan ko, Hittite kuish "who;" Latin quis/quid "in what respect, to what extent; how, why," qua "where, which way," qui/quae/quod "who, which;" Lithuanian kas "who;" Old Church Slavonic kuto, Russian kto "who;" Old Irish ce, Welsh pwy "who;" Old English hwa, hwæt, hwær, etc.

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    quid
    "bite-sized piece" (of tobacco, etc.), "a portion suitable to be chewed or held in the mouth," 1727, dialectal variant of Middle English cudde, from Old English cudu, cwidu (see cud)...."a sovereign, one pound sterling," 1680s, British slang, possibly from quid "that which is, es
    brunch
    1896, British student slang merger of breakfast and lunch. ACCORDING to the Lady, to be fashionable nowadays we must "brunch." Truly an excellent portmanteau word, introduced, by the way, last year, by Mr GUY BERINGER, in the now defunct Hunter's Weekly, and indicating a combine
    shadow
    Middle English shadwe, from Old English sceadwe, sceaduwe "shade, the effect of interception of sunlight; dark image cast by someone or something when interposed between an object and a source of light," oblique cases ("to the," "from the," "of the," "in the") of sceadu (see shad
    drive
    Old English drifan "to compel or urge to move, impel in some direction or manner; to hunt (deer), pursue; to rush against" (class I strong verb; past tense draf, past participle drifen), from Proto-Germanic *dreibanan (source also of Old Frisian driva "I lead, impel, drive (away)
    threshold
    Old English þrescold, þærscwold, þerxold, etc., "door-sill, point of entering," a word of uncertain origin and probably much altered by folk-etymology. The first element probably is related to Old English þrescan (see thresh), either in its current sense of "thresh" or with its o
    shift
    Middle English shiften, from Old English sciftan, scyftan "arrange, place, put in order" (a sense now obsolete), also "divide, separate, partition; distribute, allot, share" (now obsolete or provincial), from Proto-Germanic *skiftan (source also of Old Norse skipta "to divide, ch
    mask
    1530s, "a cover for the face (with openings for the eyes and mouth), a false face," from French masque "covering to hide or guard the face" (16c.), from Italian maschera, from Medieval Latin masca "mask, specter, nightmare," a word of uncertain origin. It is perhaps from Arabic m
    souvenir
    1775, "a remembrance or memory" (Walpole), from French souvenir (12c.), from Old French noun use of souvenir (v.) "to remember, come to mind," from Latin subvenire "come to mind," from sub "up from below" (see sub-) + venire "to come," from a suffixed form of PIE root *gwa- "to g
    skinflint
    "miser, one who makes use of contemptible economy to keep money," c. 1700 ("Dictionary of the Canting Crew"), slang ; literally "kind of person who would skin a flint to save or gain something," from skin (v.) + flint. Flay-flint in same sense is from 1670s. Among the 18c. slang
    Saturday
    seventh or last day of the week, Old English sæterdæg, sæternesdæg, literally "day of the planet Saturn," from Sæternes (genitive of Sætern; see Saturn) + Old English dæg (see day). Partial loan-translation of Latin Saturni dies "Saturn's day" (compare Dutch Zaterdag, Old Frisian

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