quattordici

Forms

quattordici (invariable)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian quatordeci and Old Italian quatordici, and northern Old Italian quatordexe.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin quattuordecim (“fourteen”), a compound of quattuor (“four”) and decem (“ten”).^{[2][4][5][6][1]} Devoto explains the ⟨o⟩ by a simplification of the Latin ⟨uo⟩, and the ⟨i⟩ of the ending by a change of ⟨-em⟩ to ⟨-im⟩.^[7]

The same word is French quatorze, Occitan catorze, Catalan catorze, Spanish catorce and Portuguese quatorze.^[4][8] In the Latin compound numerals the units came before the tens, and that order survives in the numerals Romance inherited, such as this word and quindici, but was reversed in new formations such as diciassette and diciotto.^[4]

quattro and dieci continue the two parts.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, as quatordeci and quatordici, is in a Florentine banker's book of 1211, as the number fourteen.^[2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

Dante uses the numeral (1304–1308).^[2] In Florence i Quattordici was a magistracy of fourteen members.^[3] An older use as an ordinal, lo quattordici grado “the fourteenth step”, is marked obsolete by Tommaseo, who also notes Luigi quattordici, Louis XIV, as an imitation of French.^[9]

The ordinal quattordicesimo is recorded from Boccaccio (before 1375), and quattordicenne “fourteen years old”, formed on the model of decenne, from 1869.^[2][4] In modern use the noun also names the fourteenth day of a month, the year 1914, and two in the afternoon.^[5][10]

Timeline

• 1211 – A Florentine banker's book has quatordeci and quatordici.^[2][3]
• 1304–1308 – Dante uses the word.^[2]
• Before 1375 – Boccaccio uses quattordicesimo.^[2]
• 1869 – Quattordicenne is recorded by Tommaseo.^[4][2]

Meanings

Numeral

1. fourteen: ten plus four (14, XIV): Ho aspettato quattordici minuti.^[5][11][1]
2. After a noun, as an ordinal: fourteenth: capitolo quattordici.^[5][11][12]

Noun

1. The number fourteen, and the figure 14.^[5][11][13]
2. The fourteenth day of a month; the fourteenth year of a century, especially 1914.^[5][11][13]
3. (feminine plural) Le quattordici, two in the afternoon.^[5][13]

Word family

• quattordicesimo
• quattordicenne

Related words

• quattro
• dieci
• quindici
• Latin quattuordecim

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
4. ^ a b c d e f g Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
11. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
12. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
13. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana