Beschreibung:
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<jats:title><jats:bold>Abstract</jats:bold></jats:title>
<jats:p>The article examines the use of <jats:italic>nam</jats:italic> in close association with a question word (e.g. <jats:italic>quisnam, nam quis</jats:italic>) in early Latin. As Kroon (1995, 165-5) observes, the use mirrors explicative <jats:italic>nam</jats:italic>, in that it is found when a speaker seeks supplementary information, while explicative <jats:italic>nam</jats:italic> is used to provide it. If interrogative <jats:italic>nam</jats:italic> arose from a sarcastic use of explicative <jats:italic>nam</jats:italic> to comment on a dialogue partner’s failure to supply information, this could account for several nuances that commentators have found in <jats:italic>nam</jats:italic> questions.</jats:p>
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