quadringenties

Forms

quadringentiēs (not comparable)^[1] The OLD gives the form in -iēns as its head, quadringentiēns, with quadringentiēs as a variant.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin quadringentī (“four hundred”) + -iēs (“-fold, times”), the multiplicative adverb of the numeral.^[1][2] The numeral itself is a compound of quattuor (“four”) and centum (“hundred”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Cicero, in sums of money: HS quadringentiēs, four hundred times a hundred thousand sesterces, that is forty million sesterces.^[4][2][3]

Semantic evolution

Beside its plain meaning “four hundred times”, the word was used almost only in the reckoning of large sums, where sestertium or nummum with the hundred thousand is understood: quadringentiēs sestertium is forty million sesterces.^[2][4]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it for a sum of forty million sesterces in the Verrines and the Philippics.^[4][3]

Meanings

Adverb

1. Four hundred times.^[2][1]
2. With sestertium or nummum (expressed or understood), four hundred times a hundred thousand sesterces, forty million.^[2][4]

References

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