I see both ways. Maybe one is for beginners? Maybe one is more elegant? Is one way preferable to the other? Maybe it works for some combinations and not others? Maybe there’s a rhythmic reason?
quō in locō? in quō locō?
quō ā locō? ā quō locō?
Quō dē locō? dē quō logō?
Quō ex/ē locō? ex quō locō
quā in terrā? in quā terrā?
quā dē… dē quā
ex quā parte corporis labōrat? quā ex parte
Dē quā rē loqueris? Quā dē rē loqueris?
Quā ex māteriā fit cāseus?
Is there a rule here?
Maybe it only works if there are three words e.g. Interrogative+preposition+noun “quo in loco” and not “quo in” alone?
This is a question that you can research using a corpus, e.g. the one compiled by the Packard Humanities Institute (PHI Latin Texts), which contains basically all of Latin literature written before the year 200 AD: You can use the concordance search to look for any word or combination of words to see how often it occurs and which authors use it.
If we search for “in quo loco”, we get 20 hits. For “quo in loco” we get 56 hits. In this case, both occur in ancient Latin but there seems to be a preference. I personally think “quo in loco” is more elegant.
If we compare “a quo loco” and “quo a loco”, however, we find that “a quo loco” occurs 6 times, which is not really a lot, while “quo a loco” does not occur it all.
Of course it’s not all about the numbers! One would also have to consider the context and check if there is a difference in meaning between the various uses.
Edit: Just “quo in” instead of “in quo” certainly doesn’t work. And “in quo” only works if a noun is understood or if it refers back to a noun.
Thank you Laurentius
I think maybe it has to do with rhythm.
Qua de causa sounds more pleasing to my ear than de qua causa (Although if your mother was angry she might want to say de qua cause (something like "Just why…?) And quo in loco has a better “feel” than in quo loco.
and quo a loco seems hard to say.
Maybe the Romans where more conscious of how things sounded when read out loud (since people didn’t read silently) (They say that the KJV translators were conscious of how their translation would sound when it was read out loud.) So maybe not rules, but Mouth-feel and ear-feel?
Interesting.
