Quid? followed by a question

Latin Medieval and Neo-Latin
1

My sixteenth-century philosopher sometimes prefaces a question with “Quid?” and usually the following question begins uncapitalized.

  • Quid? unde iste haec Rodolphe?


  • Quid? an non vehementer absurdum illud, assuefacere pueros, ut dextra cibum capiant, et si levam forte manum extendant increpare: at interim non providere illud, ut honesta suaeque aetati congruentia audiant?


  • Quid? manus si sit ita infecta, ut nec ipsa sanari queat, et periculum sit, ne in reliquuum corpus is morbus prorepat, antea quam id fiat, abscinditur: idem fit brachio, pedi, naso, labris: et capiti videlicet idem non fiat?


  • Quid? An non locupletum fortunis cotidie imminet latro importunissimus?


  • Quid? calere ergo actus non est?

What is “Quid?” doing?

If it is part of the question, then my question is “What is that question mark doing there?”

Does he mean something like “What?! Really?! Just think about this, will you?!” or “What about this?!”

Is this distinctly Neo-Latin?

2

It’s definitely present in Cicero and many others.

Quid> ? > how? why? wherefore? > quid? tu me hoc tibi mandasse existimas, ut? etc., Cic. Fam. 2, 8, 1: quid hoc? id. Tusc. 1, 11, 25: quid? eundem nonne destituisti? id. Phil. 2, 38, 99: eloquere, quid venisti? why? wherefore? Plaut. Am. 1, 1, 221 (373): sed quid ego argumentor? quid plura disputo? Cic. Mil. 16, 44. —

3

Interesting. I should have spotted that.

And if it is in Cicero, then we should not be surprised to see it in a Cicero-fawning sixteenth-century humanist.

L&S’s translations using “how? why? wherefore?” don’t seem to fit well with the examples cited. I see that Loeb has “Really!” or “Well?” for a couple. Better, it seems to me.

Maybe it really is close to the way some English speakers use “What?!”

Thanks @bedwere! Interesting.