quorum

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈkwɔː.ɹəm/ (UK); /ˈkwɔːɹəm/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin quōrum (“of whom”), the genitive plural of quī “who”,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from the Latin wording of the commissions appointing justices of the peace, quorum vos … unum (duos, etc.) esse volumus, “of whom we wish that you … be one (two, etc.)”.^[4][6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

In law, certain senior justices of the peace whose presence was necessary to constitute a court (1426).^[3][4][8][7]

Semantic evolution

The justices named in the commission were called the justices of the quorum.^[4][8] By 1602 the word was applied to similarly distinguished members of other bodies, hence a select company.^[9][5] The modern sense, the fixed number of members of a body whose presence is necessary for the valid transaction of business, dates from 1616.^[3][9][4] In the Mormon church a quorum is a body of those in the same grade of priesthood.^[5]

Timeline

• 1426 – the justices of the quorum.^[3][8]
• 1602 – a select company.^[9][5]
• 1616 – the minimum number of members needed to transact business.^[9][3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The minimum number of members of a committee or organization, usually a majority, who must be present for business to be validly transacted.
2. A select group.

Related words

• who

Usage notes

Wiktionary notes that the plural quora is sometimes objected to because Latin quōrum is itself a plural pronoun, not a noun.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
9. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press