Etymologically
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quadrimus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kʷaˈdriː.mʊs], [kʷadˈriː.mʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [kʷaˈdriː.mus], [kʷadˈriː.mus][1]

Forms

quadrīmus (feminine quadrīma, neuter quadrīmum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin quadri- (“four”) + hiems (“winter”), literally “of four winters”.[2][3][4] De Vaan explains the second element as the zero grade of the word for winter that survives in compounds with numerals, as in bīmus “two years old” and trīmus “three years old”;[3] he traces it to Proto-Indo-European *ǵhim-ós (“winter”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on,[3] of a four-year-old boy stolen by a slave.[2]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it is used of animals (cows put to the bull, mares), of children (Cicero's “four-year-old Cato”), of vines and palms, and of four-year-old wine in Horace.[2] The jurist Alfenus uses it of a term of four years, in a clause on repaying a dowry.[2]

It survived in Medieval Latin, where Osbern of Gloucester glosses it as “of four years”.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a four-year-old boy.[2][4]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of cows.[2][4]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace asks for four-year-old wine.[2][4]
  • 1st century AD – Columella uses it of vines.[2][4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Four years old.[2][6]
  2. Lasting or existing for four years.[2]

Word family

  • quadrīmātus
  • quadrīmulus

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d 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 e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press