In William Shakespeare’s play As You Like It, the character Rosalind observes that Orlando, who has been running about in the woods carving her name on trees and hanging love poems on branches, “seems to have the quotidian of love upon him.” The Bard’s use doesn’t make it clear that quotidian derives from a Latin word that means “every day.” But as odd as it may seem, his use of quotidian is just a short semantic step away from the “daily” adjective sense. Some fevers occur intermittently—sometimes daily. The phrase “quotidian fever” and the noun quotidian have long been used for such recurring maladies. Poor Orlando is simply afflicted with such a “fever” of love.

Examples

“Disability technology can be so quotidian that nondisabled users don’t even notice. GPS and spell-check, so ubiquitous for so many people, are technologies that assist me with dyslexia.” — David M. Perry, The New York Times, 20 July 2020

“Normally an outgoing person, I was accustomed to frequent study sessions, movie nights and other quotidian experiences with my friends….” — Elaine Godwin, The Flat Hat (The College of William and Mary), 11 Aug. 2020