quaternaire

Forms

quaternaire (plural quaternaires)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin quaternārius (“consisting of four”), which Latin used in arithmetic and metrics from the 1st century.^[2][3] The Latin adjective is formed from quaternī (“four each, four at a time”), the distributive of quattuor (“four”).^[3][4][5] The Anglo-Norman Dictionary records an Anglo-Norman quaternaire (also quaternari) “four” from the mid-13th century, with a query on the reading.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, in 1488 in La Mer des histoires, speaks of four kinds of “quaternary virtues”, that is, virtues forming a set of four.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The word was first an arithmetical term for a number divisible by four or a system based on four (1515), and more generally anything made of four elements.^[2][3] Chemistry used it from 1845 for a compound containing four elements.^[2][3]

Its best-known use came from geology: terrains quaternaires (1829) named the most recent deposits, then période quaternaire (1884) and ère quaternaire (1907) the latest geological era, and the adjective became a noun, le quaternaire (1882).^[2][3] Bloch and Wartburg put the geological use as early as the end of the 18th century.^[4] In economics it has named, since 1971, a sector beside the primary, secondary and tertiary ones, made up of people in management, direction and research.^[3]

Timeline

• 1488 – First recorded, of a set of four virtues.^[2][3]
• 1515 – Used in arithmetic by Claude Platin.^[2]
• 1829 – Terrains quaternaires appears in geology.^[2][3]
• 1845 – Bescherelle records the chemical sense.^[2][3]
• 1882 – Le quaternaire is used as a noun for the geological period.^[2][3]
• 1884 – Période quaternaire appears in Huysmans.^[2]
• 1907 – Ère quaternaire is recorded.^[3]
• 1971 – The economic sense appears.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Made up of four elements; divisible by four;^[7][8][5] numération quaternaire, a numeral system with base four.^[7][8][5]
2. (chemistry) Of a compound or molecule containing four different kinds of atoms; of a carbon or nitrogen atom bound to four carbon atoms, as in ammonium quaternaire.^[7][8]
3. (biochemistry) Structure quaternaire: the stable association of several polypeptide chains in a protein.^[7]
4. (geology) Of the most recent geological era, marked by great glaciations and the evolution of humans: ère quaternaire.^[7][8]

Noun

1. Le quaternaire: the Quaternary era.^[7][8]
2. (economics) The sector of management, direction and research.^[3]

Related words

• quaterne
• quatre
• Latin quaternārius

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 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 c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
7. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c d e Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)