Learn English – How to use the prepositions “apud” and “chez”

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I couldn't find many examples of apud and chez as prepositions; I just found one description on Wiktionary:

apud
1. Used in scholarly works to cite a reference at second hand.

  • Jones apud Smith means that the original source is Jones, but that the author is relying on Smith for that reference.

More shockingly, I found nine meanings of apud on Word Hippo site, i.e. among, at, before, amongst, about, beside, near, in the presence of.

The next word is chez, meaning "at the home of." Again from Wiktionary:

  • 2008 February 28, Lisa Forest, “Mind the gap: Empty house, empty nest, empty fridge”, in The Telegraph:

Even if I say so myself, Christmas chez the Forests is quite a heart-warming affair. For Ben, growing up, it was pure magic – a log fire in the grate, …

Also, are these two words not used in English, but in Greek, Latin, or French? I found apud and chez in a Wikipedia article with a list of English prepositions.

Best Answer

Regarding apud, I would advise against using such an obscure term. Unless it is common in the specific publication you are writing for.

Chicago Manual of Style:

Q. When can we use apud in a note?

A. Apud (Latin for “at,” “beside,” “within”) precedes the name of an author or title to indicate a source. It is used like the French word chez to mean “in the works of” or “according to”: apud Homer. It’s appropriate for those occasions when you just want to impress classics teachers or elderly readers and it doesn’t really matter whether anyone else understands.

Publications' style guides may provide rules on how one should cite an indirect reference. For example: How to Cite a Reference Within a Reference in APA Format

[Chez was added to the question after I posted the above]

I think chez would be widely understood by (native) English speakers even if they wouldn't use it often. According to Collins Dictionary:

Used Occasionally. chez is one of the 30000 most commonly used words in the Collins dictionary

With a nice little graph showing an odd peak in the mid 1700s.

Their definition is:

  1. at the home of

  2. with, among, or in the manner of

Example: London is busy letting its hair down but all is obviously not well chez Belmont. Edward Docx THE CALLIGRAPHER (2003)

It can seem pretentious and so is sometimes used for humorous effect or ironically.

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