quaternio

Forms

quaterniō m (genitive quaterniōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin quaternī (“four each”) + -iō,^[2][3][1] and quaternī in turn comes from quater (“four times”).^[1] The medieval spelling ⟨quarternio⟩ was associated with quartus (“fourth”) or Middle English quartern.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's earliest source for it is the Old Latin Bible (the Itala), after 220 AD.^[5] In the Vulgate it names a squad of four soldiers, in the phrase “quattuor quaterniones militum”, four squads of four soldiers.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Its basic sense is a group of four: the number four, as in Martianus Capella,^[2][3] and the four on a die, as in Isidore of Seville.^[2][3] In the Bible it is a squad of four soldiers,^[2][6] and Latin–Greek glossaries match it with Ancient Greek τετράδιον (tetrádion).^[7]

From the 6th century it was also a book-making term, a quire: a sheet or sheets folded into a gathering of four leaves, in Fulgentius of Ruspe and Venantius Fortunatus.^[8][9][3] This is its main medieval sense, a quire or gathering of a manuscript and then a booklet of one quire,^[10][4] and the French cahier is the word Du Cange gives for it.^[11] Du Cange also records it for the officer in charge of a fourth company of soldiers or of a town.^[11]

Timeline

• after 220 AD – The Old Latin Bible (Itala) has the word.^[5]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it for a squad of four soldiers.^[2][5]
• 5th century AD – Martianus Capella uses it for the number four.^[2][5]
• first third of the 6th century AD – Fulgentius of Ruspe uses it for a quire of a book.^[8][5]
• 536–c. 610 AD – Venantius Fortunatus also uses it of a quire.^[8][5]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville uses it for the four on a die.^[2][5]
• 800 – Alcuin asks in a letter for quires to be bound together into one volume.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Late Latin) The number four.^[2][3]
2. (Late Latin) A four on a die (in dice games).^[2][3]
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A squad of four soldiers.^[2][6]
4. (Late Latin) A quire: sheets folded together to make four leaves.^[8][9]
5. (Medieval Latin) A quire or gathering of a manuscript; a booklet of one quire.^[10][4]
6. (Medieval Latin) The officer in charge of a fourth company of soldiers or of a town.^[11]

Usage notes

Medieval texts also write it quarternio and caternio, and use quaternus in the same sense.^[4][5][10]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c d e 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ Goetz, Georg (1888–1923), Corpus glossariorum Latinorum, Leipzig: Teubner; vols. VI–VII Thesaurus glossarum emendatarum, digital ed. CGLO, Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
10. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
11. ^ a b c du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre