Qua can usually be read as the word "as". It is an occasionally useful (and rarely used) link-word in English. I was just reading about qua in Fowler's (incl. the 3rd ed by Burchfield) a couple of days ago. Says Fowler: "The real occasion for the use of qua occurs when a person or thing spoken of can be regarded from more than one point of view or as the holder of various coexistent functions ...
How is the word "qua" used? - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange
Qua (not to be confused with the ablative feminine form of qui) is a Latin adverb meaning "where; by which route". Read it as "as" when you read it. Use it in scholarly or legal writing to refer to a specific role or conceptual category for an entity that could have more than one role/conceptual category. E.g., All that is necessary is, that the arbiter, in the free exercise of his discretion ...
Closed 5 years ago. Some Latinisms are usually italicized in English whereas some Latin loanwords are not, even in the same text. However, I cannot find any clear pattern. Are there clear rules or guidelines about it? For example, should I italicize 'qua', 'a priori', or 'post factum'?
It's hard to find a fundamental difference in how "X qua X" and "X simpliciter" are used. There might be differences in connotation though, with qua suggesting something has multiple aspects and can be considered qua multiple things, while simpliciter means simply.
The definition still says, of high quality. "this was a fine piece of filmmaking" "fine wines" But too many times, we see people using the word to describe a so-so state, li...