quadragesimus

Forms

quadrāgēsimus (feminine quadrāgēsima, neuter quadrāgēsimum); first/second-declension numeral^[1] The spelling with ⟨-gēns-⟩ also occurs,^[2] and coins of Galba have ⟨QVADRAGENSVMA⟩.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin quadrāgintā (“forty”) + -ēsimus (“-th”).^[2][1] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of quattuor (“four”).^[4] Wiktionary traces the numeral ⟨quadrāgintā⟩ to Proto-Indo-European *kʷétwr̥dḱomt (“four tens”).^[1] Cognate with Ancient Greek τετρώκοντα (tetrṓkonta) and Sanskrit चत्वारिंशत् (catvāriṃśát).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Cato,^[4][5] whose treatise on farming has pars quadrāgēsima, a fortieth part.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

As an ordinal it numbered days, years and fractions, as in Varro, Cicero, Columella and Pliny the Elder.^[3] The feminine quadrāgēsima (understood pars) was a fortieth part,^[3][7] as of the sum at issue in a lawsuit in Suetonius,^[2][3] and especially a tax of one fortieth, 2½ per cent: Tacitus mentions the abolition of the fortieth and fiftieth, Suetonius a man who collected the fortieth in Asia, and inscriptions a procurator of the fortieth of the Gauls.^[2][3] Symmachus calls it a customs duty.^[3][7]

In Christian Latin, from Jerome on, quadrāgēsima was the forty days' fast, Lent.^[3][7][5] Medieval Latin used it for any period of forty days and had mediante quadrāgēsimā for mid-Lent;^[8] in England it was also a tax of a fortieth of rents or movable goods.^[9] The word for Lent continues in Italian quaresima, French carême, Spanish cuaresma, Portuguese quaresma and Romanian păresimi, and was borrowed into Old Irish, Welsh, Basque and Albanian.^[1][6]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato speaks of a fortieth part.^[3][5]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus mentions the abolition of the tax of a fortieth.^[2][5]
• c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome uses quadrāgēsima for Lent.^[3][5]
• 1199 – A document in England mentions the collection of a fortieth.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Fortieth.^[2][3]

Noun

1. (feminine quadrāgēsima) A fortieth part.^[3][7]
2. A tax of one fortieth (2½ per cent), especially a customs duty.^[2][3]
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Lent, the fast of forty days.^[3][8]
4. (Medieval Latin) Any period of forty days.^[8][9]
5. (Medieval Latin) A tax of a fortieth of rents or movable goods.^[9]

Word family

• quadrāgēsima

Related words

• quadrāgintā
• quattuor

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ a b c d Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press