cuius

Latin

Etymology 1

From the earlier quoius (the standard spelling until the early Empire), either from Proto-Italic *kʷojjos, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷosyo secondarily marked with the gen. sg. *-s, or from Proto-Indo-European *kʷo-s-yo-s, a thematic adjective like Ancient Greek ποῖος (poîos, “of what sort?”) and Oscan púiiu (“cuia”), púiieh (“cuius”). The latter is more likely, since if the adjectival use had been a later development, it is hard to explain why eius, with its adjective counterpart suus, did not share this development. This genitive formation (probably original in pronouns) also appears in nominal forms like VALESIOSIO (on the Lapis Satricanus, early 5th c. BC), but in these it was ultimately displaced by -ī.

Alternative forms

• cujus, cuiius, cuijus, cujjus (typographic variants)
• quoius, quoiius, quoijus (Republican spelling)

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈkui̯.i̯us/, [ˈkʊi̯ːʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈku.jus/, [ˈkuːjus]
• Note: although the first vowel is a short /u/, it is often spelled with a macron in sources that use macrons to indicate long syllables rather than long vowels. The first syllable is made long by its final [j].

Pronoun

cuius

1. genitive masculine/feminine/neuter singular of quī

Descendants

• →⇒ Italian: cuiusso

Etymology 2

Same as Etymology 1.

Pronoun

cuius

1. genitive masculine/feminine/neuter singular of quis

Etymology 3

Depending on Etymology 1, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷo-s-yo-s (“of what kind”), or less likely a reinterpretation of the genitive. These forms were considered rustic by some and even mocked (see example), yet survive into Romance.

Determiner

cuius (feminine cuia, neuter cuium); first/second-declension determiner

1. (interrogative) whose?
   • perh. before 4th c. CE, Numitorius, Antibucolica 1.1, (fragment conserved in Donatus' Vita Vergiliana):

     Tītyre, sī toga calda tibi est, quō tegmine fāgī?
     Dīc mihi, Dāmoetā, 'cuium pecus' anne Latīnum?
     Nōn, vērum Aegōnis nostrī; sīc rūre locuntur.

     Say, Tityrus, if your toga is hot, what do you need the cover of the beech tree for?
     Tell me, Damoetas, is "whose cattle" even a Latin expression?
     No, it's my friend Aegon's; that's how they talk in the countryside.

2. (relative) whose
   • c. 125 CE – 180 CE, Apuleius, Apologia 1.3:

     Sustineō enim nōn modo meam, vērum etiam philosophiae dēfēnsiōnem, cuia magnitūdō vel minimam reprehēnsiōnem prō māximō crīmine aspernātur.

     I am undertaking not just a defence of myself, but one of Philosophy too, whose greatness rejects even the smallest blame as if it were the greatest crime.

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

	singular				plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	cuius	cuia	cuium		cuiī	cuiae	cuia
genitive	cuiī	cuiae	cuiī		cuiōrum	cuiārum	cuiōrum
dative	cuiō	cuiae	cuiō		cuiīs
accusative	cuium	cuiam	cuium		cuiōs	cuiās	cuia
ablative	cuiō	cuiā	cuiō		cuiīs
vocative	cuie	cuia	cuium		cuiī	cuiae	cuia

Descendants

• Galician: cuxo
• Portuguese: cujo
• Sardinian: cuju
• Old Spanish: cuyo
  • Spanish: cuyo

Further reading

• “cujus (1)”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “cujus (2)”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “cuius”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• cujus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.