ec-

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ek/, [ɛk]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ek/, [ek]

Related to Oscan 𐌄𐌊𐌊𐌖𐌌 (ekkum) via Proto-Italic; further etymology uncertain. Possibly from Proto-Indo-European *é(y) or *h₁é +‎ *(-)ḱe.

May be apocopated or back-formed from ecce. An old hypothesis proposed *ed-ke underlying Latin ecce (in which case, all ec- may simply be *ed-) and *ed-ke-om underlying Oscan 𐌄𐌊𐌊𐌖𐌌 (ekkum), comparing the first element of Proto-Slavic *ed-ìnъ (“one”) and *ed(ъ)-và (“only”), which would point to Proto-Indo-European *(h₁)ed-, but the latter is nowadays reconstructed as *h₁edʰ- in accordance with Winter's law. (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

ec-

1. prefixed to interrogatives, has intensive or indefinite force

   ec- + -ce → ecce

   ec- + quandō → ecquandō

   ec- + quis → ecquis

• “ec-”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “ec-” on page 584/1 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (1st ed., 1968–82)
• Pokorny, Julius (1959) “3. e-, ei-, i-”, in Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 1, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, page 282 and 284 of 281–287

See ex-.

ec-

1. Alternative form of ex- (combining with f-initial words).

   ec- + ferō → ecferō