Tertium quid
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Tertium quid refers to an unidentified third element that is in combination with two known ones.[1] The phrase is associated with alchemy.[1] It is Latin for "third something" (literally, "third what"), a translation of the Greek triton ti (τρίτον τί).[1] The Greek phrase was used by Plato (360 BC),[2] and by Irenæus (c. AD 196).[3] The earliest Latin example is by Tertullian (c. 220), who used the phrase to describe a mixed substance with composite properties such as electrum, a somewhat different sense than the modern meaning.[4]
In the Christological debates of the fourth century, it was used to refer to the followers of Apollinaris who spoke of Christ as something neither human nor divine, but a mixture of the two in a mysterious and inseparable way, and therefore a "third thing". This term is used in reference to Miaphysite Christology.
In American political history
In American political history, the Tertium Quids, or Quids, were moderate members of Jefferson's Democratic-Republican Party. The word implies that their political position was apt to embrace true republicanism and the comparable conservatism of the Federalist Party, particularly on foreign policy. The Quids arose in 1804 during Thomas Jefferson's first term in office. They were led by Virginia's John Randolph of Roanoke. They stood by the party's original stance for strict construction of the Constitution and opposed Jefferson's pragmatic approach to governing.
In sociology
In sociology, it describes a category of degraded moral consideration.
In Souls of Black Folk, W.E.B. Du Bois used the term "tertium quid" to refer to the identity of African Americans in a racist society, where non-white people are viewed as a devalued category between man and animal.
- "The second thought streaming from the death (slave)-ship and the curving river is the thought of the older South, the sincere and passionate belief that somewhere between men and cattle, God created a tertium quid, and called it a Negro—a clownish, simple creature, at times even lovable within its limitations, but straitly foreordained to walk within the Veil."[5]