Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
"quondam" is quite an interesting one. It is, of course, just a straightforward Latin word meaning "formerly" or "at one time", but although it was in everyday use in 19th century novels (Dickens uses it a lot) it seems to be a word that's completely fallen out of current usage - I think you'd struggle to find anyone who knows what it means today.
I don't think it's simply down to the fact that hardly anyone learns Latin in school any more - English still uses a lot of Latin words and expressions, such as "vice versa", despite that fact. "quondam" just seems to have stopped being used, curiously enough.
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Heinlein used to use it a lot, which is why I know what it means.