quadriennium

Forms

quadriennium n (genitive quadrienniī or quadriennī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin quadri- (“four”) + annus (“year”) + -ium,^[2] or quadriennis (“of four years”) with -ium.^[1] De Vaan traces quattuor to Proto-Indo-European *kwétuōr (“four”) and annus to Proto-Italic *atno- and Proto-Indo-European *h2et-no- (“a year”), from a root meaning “to go”.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cato.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It is a period of four years,^[2] which Lewis & Short call classical, citing Cicero's speeches and On Old Age.^[5] In the ablative quadriennio it means within four years, as Florus' war finished within four years, and for a space of four years, as Livy's men who had not served for four years and Pliny the Elder's doors that had stood four years in their glue.^[2] Quadriennio ante and post are four years before and after.^[2] In Church Latin it keeps the sense of a period of four years.^[6]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato.^[4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero, in his speeches.^[5][4]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy, of men who had not served for four years.^[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A period of four years, quadrennium.^[2][5][1]
2. quadriennio: within four years; for four years.^[2]

Related words

• quadriennis
• biennium
• triennium
• annus

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson