quotient

Forms

quotient m (plural quotients)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin quotiēns (“how many times”), a variant of quotiēs, derived from quot (“how many”).^[2][3][4][5] The Latin adverb, which also meant “as often as”, became a noun in French.^[3][6] Littré derives it from quotus.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1484 in Chuquet's Triparty, for the result of a division.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The word began as a term of arithmetic, and in the 16th century De La Roche still wrote le quotiens in Latin form, explaining that the number shows how many times the divisor is contained in the dividend.^[7][3] Its extensions to other fields came late, always for the result of a ratio between two quantities: quotient électoral (1866, in Amiel's journal), quotient respiratoire in physiology (1904), quotient familial in tax law (1956) and the quotient chlorophyllien of botany.^[3][2][5]

In psychology quotient intellectuel followed Stern's quotient d'intelligence (1912) and is recorded before 1951; it is commonly shortened to QI (about 1950), which in everyday language came to mean “intelligence”, as in the joking avoir le QI d'une huître.^[3][2]

Timeline

• 1484 – First recorded in Chuquet's Triparty.^[2]
• 16th century – De La Roche's Arismetique uses the form quotiens.^[7]
• 1866 – Quotient électoral appears in Amiel's journal.^[2][3]
• 1904 – The Larousse records quotient respiratoire.^[3][5]
• 1912 – Stern's quotient d'intelligence.^[3]
• c. 1950 – The abbreviation QI appears.^[3]
• 1955 – Quotient intellectuel is recorded in a medical encyclopedia.^[2]
• 1956 – Quotient familial is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (arithmetic) The result of the division of one number by another.^[2][8][5]
2. Quotient électoral: under proportional representation, the number of votes cast divided by the number of seats to be filled.^[8][5]
3. Quotient familial: in French tax law, taxable income divided into a number of shares that depends on the taxpayer's family situation.^[8][5]
4. Quotient intellectuel (QI): a figure, obtained from tests, that expresses a person's intelligence as a quantity.^[5][3]
5. (physiology) Quotient respiratoire: the ratio of the volume of carbon dioxide breathed out to that of the oxygen taken in.^[8][5][3]

Related words

• quota
• quote-part
• quotidien
• quotité
• cote
• Latin quotiēns

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert