quindici

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin quīndecim (“fifteen”), formed from quīnque (“five”) and decem (“ten”).^{[2][3][4][1][5]} The same numeral is French quinze, Occitan quinze, Catalan quinze, Spanish quince, Portuguese quinze and Sardinian bindighi, while Romanian has a new formation, Romanian cincisprezece.^[3][6][7]

The first part goes back to Proto-Indo-European *pénkʷe (“five”), and the second to Proto-Indo-European *déḱm̥ (“ten”).^[8] The ⟨i⟩ of the ending ⟨-decim⟩ is not well explained; de Vaan thinks it was taken from ordinals ending in -decimus (“tenth”).^[8] Old Italian also had quindeci, quinici and quinnici.^[9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is quinici in a 12th-century inventory from Fondi, where a holding must give “fifteen measures of grain” (tomela de granu quinici) every year for the holy oil and the chrism.^[2][9][11] The form quindici is recorded in 1211 in a Florentine text.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Siena i Quindici were the supreme magistracy of fifteen members drawn from the middle ranks of the people, which succeeded the Nine in 1280 and governed until 1287.^[9][10] Dante sees quindici stelle (“fifteen stars”) in the Paradiso.^[12]

The ordinal quindicesimo is recorded before 1375 in Boccaccio, quindicennio “fifteen years” in 1812, quindicina “about fifteen; a fortnight” before 1827 in Foscolo, and quindicinale “fortnightly” in 1891.^[2] Modern uses include il quindici for a rugby team, the sliding-tile puzzle gioco del quindici, and il '15 for 1915, the year Italy entered the First World War.^[4][13][10]

Timeline

• 12th century – Quinici appears in an inventory from Fondi.^[2][9]
• 1211 – Quindici is recorded in a Florentine text.^[2]
• 1280 – The Quindici succeed the Nine as the government of Siena.^[9]
• Before 1375 – Boccaccio uses quindicesimo.^[2]
• 1812 – Quindicennio is first recorded.^[2]
• Before 1827 – Foscolo uses quindicina.^[2]
• 1891 – Quindicinale is first recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Numeral

1. fifteen: Mancano quindici minuti alla partenza.^[4][14][1]
2. After a noun, with ordinal value: fifteenth: Leggete la pagina quindici.^[4][14]

Noun

1. The number fifteen, and the figure that stands for it.^[4][14][15]
2. The fifteenth day of a month; the fifteenth year of a century, especially 1915.^[4][14][15]
3. (feminine plural, le quindici) Three o'clock in the afternoon.^[15][13]
4. (rugby) A rugby team, which has fifteen players.^[4][14][16]
5. (history) I Quindici, a governing council or court of fifteen members.^[14][10]

Word family

• quindicesimo
• quindicina
• quindicinale
• quindicenne
• quindicennio
• quindicennale

Related words

• cinque
• dieci
• Latin quīndecim

Usage notes

Oggi a quindici means “two weeks from today”.^[14][15][13]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b c d e Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
10. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
11. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 15
12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
15. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
16. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse