quart

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kaʁ/^[1]

Forms

quart (feminine quarte, masculine plural quarts, feminine plural quartes)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin quārtus (“fourth”), from quattuor (“four”) (see quatre).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} Rey treats the adjective as borrowed, and the noun either as the adjective used as a noun or as a direct borrowing of the neuter quārtum.^[3][5] In the Middle Ages it was the ordinal of “quatre”; from the 14th century it gave way to quatrième, and by the end of the 16th century it survived only in set phrases.^[2][4]

Cognate with Italian quarto, Spanish cuarto, Portuguese quarto and Occitan quart.^[2][3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Chanson de Roland (about 1100) has the adjective “fourth”: la terce, la quarte, la quinte (the third, fourth and fifth divisions).^[2][6] Chrétien de Troyes uses the noun for a quarter of a whole in Erec et Enide (about 1170).^[2]

Semantic evolution

The adjective lived on in fièvre quarte “quartan fever” (1225–1230, Guillaume de Lorris), in Rabelais's Quart Livre, in hunters' quart an, a boar's fourth year (1180), and in se moquer du tiers et du quart;^[2][3][7] quart-monde (1965) was formed after tiers-monde.^[2][3][7]

The noun has many special uses.^[3] Un quart d'heure is in the Farce de Maître Pathelin (1464), and le quart d'heure de Rabelais, the unpleasant moment of paying the bill, after a probably false story about Rabelais (1712).^[2][3] At sea the quart was a watch, originally a quarter of the day (1529), whence être au quart (early 17th century) and officier de quart (1803).^[2][3] A quarter of a litre is recorded in 1831 and the soldier's metal cup in 1904;^[2][3] un quart de beurre, a quarter of a pound, is from the 20th century.^[2][3] Partir au quart de tour, first of an engine that starts at the first turn of the crank (1927), is figurative from 1953.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Quarte “fourth”, in the Chanson de Roland.^[2]
• c. 1170 – “A quarter”, in Chrétien de Troyes.^[2]
• 1225–1230 – Fievres quartes, in Guillaume de Lorris.^[2]
• 1464 – Ung quart d'heure, in Maître Pathelin.^[2]
• 1529 – A watch at sea.^[2][3]
• 1666 – Les trois quarts “the greater part”, in Furetière.^[2]
• 1712 – Le quart d'heure de Rabelais.^[2]
• 1831 – A quarter of a litre, in Eugène Sue.^[2]
• 1927 – Partir au quart de tour, of an engine.^[2]
• 1965 – Quart-monde.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A quarter, a fourth part: le quart de la circonférence, les trois quarts du temps, most of the time.^[7][1]
2. Quart d'heure: a quarter of an hour, deux heures et quart, moins le quart.^[7][3]
3. A quarter of a litre; a soldier's metal cup.^[2][3]
4. (nautical) A watch: être de quart; a shift of work.^[1][3]
5. (music) Quart de soupir, quart de ton: a semiquaver rest, a quarter tone.^[2][7]
6. Au quart de tour: at the first attempt, immediately.^[2][1]

Adjective

1. (archaic) Fourth: le Quart Livre, fièvre quarte, quartan fever.^[7][1]

Word family

• quarteron
• quartier
• quartanier

Related words

• quatre
• quatuor
• quatrième
• Latin quārtus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert