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ubiquity (n.) [...] + que "any, also, and, ever," as a suffix giving universal meaning to the word it is attached to, from PIE root * kwe "and."

Did Etymonline err? I know that -que is an enclitic, and not a word.
Wiktionary attests -que to mean only 'and', as does AHI for the PIE root * kwe.

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  • -que is attached to the word ubi. Aug 22, 2015 at 17:22
  • Etymonline is wrong to call PIE * kwe a "root", but is otherwise correct.
    – TKR
    Aug 23, 2015 at 17:56

3 Answers 3

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-que has generalising force only after pronouns and adverbs, e.g. ubique 'wherever', quisque 'whoever'.

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I looked it up in Pons online Latin-German. There are so many translations of -que there, including some in which and simply doesn't work at all as a substitute, that any dictionary that presents and as the only translation must be considered incomplete.

Also is essentially a synonym of and when connecting two sentences. Since -que can be used in this way, it is not at all surprising that also made it on the list.

Fdb has explained where the translation -ever comes from. This explanation could also justify any-, since ubique can also be translated as anywhere. There may well be a better separate explanation for that, but I haven't found one.

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    This is not exactly an explanation, but: Additive particles (and, also) develop free choice meanings (any-, -ever) quite often in the languages of the world -- for instance, as diverse as Greek, Korean, Quichua and Adyghe. Aug 23, 2015 at 13:43
  • @IanKapitonov: Yes, intuitively I don't find this surprising at all.
    – user4938
    Aug 23, 2015 at 17:12
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    Right. The question is, precisely what semantics lies behind this :-) Aug 24, 2015 at 1:55
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In early PIE the full form of the clitic was -q̆et, it is a root meaning "a pair", other words with it include

q̆eta̯ pair

q̆etea̯ti counts

q̆etu̯ores four

This is a very ancient root, which meant quite the same (a pair) as early as Proto-Eurasiatic.

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    "Proto-Eurasiatic" is a myth.
    – fdb
    Aug 23, 2015 at 14:17

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