Etymologically
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quart

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Pronunciation

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

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