Etymologically
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quater

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Forms

quater (not comparable)[1]

Etymology

It continues ⟨*quatrus⟩, from the root of quattuor “four”; de Vaan reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *kʷturs (“four times”).[2][3] Cognate with Avestan 𐬗𐬀𐬭𐬎𐬱 (čaruš, “four times”) and Oscan petiropert (“four times”).[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is from Plautus, multiplying numbers: quater quīnīs mīnīs “four times five minae”.[2][4] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant four times, in Varro of occasions (“they bear four times a year”), and as a multiplier, as in Plautus.[2][4] Terque quaterque “three and four times” meant again and again, as in Virgil and Horace, and quater deciēs is fourteen times in Cicero.[2][6]

Anselm and the British Medieval Latin mathematicians used it for four times.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it as a multiplier.[2][5]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of occasions.[2][5]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil has terque quaterque.[2][5]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. Four times.[2]
  2. terque quaterque, again and again.[2]

Word family

  • quaternus

References

  1. ^ 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 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ 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