quaestiuncula

Latin

Etymology

From quaestiō +‎ -cula.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /kʷae̯s.tiˈun.ku.la/, [kʷäe̯s̠t̪iˈʊŋkʊɫ̪ä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /kwes.tiˈun.ku.la/, [kwest̪iˈuŋkulä]

Noun

quaestiuncula f (genitive quaestiunculae); first declension

1. diminutive of quaestiō (“a little question, a trifling question”)
   • 55 BCE, Cicero, De Oratore 1.102:

     ...alicui Graeculo otioso et loquaci et fortasse docto atque erudito quaestiunculam, de qua meo arbitratu loquar, ponitis?

     Now you ask me a trivial little question, which I am to discuss according to my judgement, as though I were some garrulous little Greek with too much free time, and perhaps learned and educated?

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	quaestiuncula	quaestiunculae
genitive	quaestiunculae	quaestiunculārum
dative	quaestiunculae	quaestiunculīs
accusative	quaestiunculam	quaestiunculās
ablative	quaestiunculā	quaestiunculīs
vocative	quaestiuncula	quaestiunculae

References

• “quaestiuncula”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• quaestiuncula in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.