Etymologically
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quattuordecim

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kʷat.tuˈɔr.dɛ.kĩː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [kʷat.tuˈɔr.de.t͡ʃim][1]

Forms

quattuordecim (indeclinable)[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin quattuor (“four”) + decem (“ten”).[2][3][1][4] De Vaan explains the ending ⟨-decim⟩ of the numbers from eleven to nineteen as ⟨-dec-⟩ from decem with ⟨-im⟩ taken from the ordinals in ⟨-decimus⟩, and rejects the usual explanation by a metathesis of the vowels as very unlikely.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Plautus.[4]

Semantic evolution

It means fourteen:[2][3] Caesar has fourteen years and fourteen miles, and Pliny the Elder fourteen parts.[6][3] With ōrdinēs, or alone, it names the fourteen front rows in the theatre reserved for the equestrian order, so that in quattuordecim sedēre, "to sit in the fourteen", means to be a knight.[2][3][1] Cicero uses the phrase in the Philippics, and Asinius Pollio in a letter to him, and it recurs in Seneca, Pliny the Elder, Suetonius and Tacitus.[3][6] Medieval British writers have the spelling quatuordecem.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus.[4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of the fourteen rows of the knights.[6]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar of fourteen years and fourteen miles.[6]
  • c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius of sitting in the fourteen rows.[3]
  • c. 1160 – quatuordecem in a Canterbury document.[7]

Meanings

Numeral

  1. Fourteen.[2][3][1][7]

Noun

  1. (with or without ōrdinēs) The fourteen front rows in the theatre reserved for the equestrian order; hence the order of knights.[2][3][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ a b c 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