Etymologically
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quingeni

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Forms

quīngēnī m pl, quīngēnae f pl, quīngēna n pl; first/second-declension distributive numeral, plural only[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin quīngentī (“five hundred”) + -ēnī, with the distributive suffix.[1][2] De Vaan lists the cardinal among the derivatives of quīnque (“five”), which goes back to Proto-Italic *kʷenkʷe and Proto-Indo-European *penkʷe (“five”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero,[4] who writes in a letter to Atticus that someone gives five hundred denarii to each man.[1][2][5]

Semantic evolution

It is a distributive numeral, five hundred each or five hundred at a time.[1][6] Besides Cicero, Suetonius uses it, and it appears in the Digest.[2] Columella uses it simply for five hundred.[6][7] Köbler records it in the Salic law,[4] and Ecclesiastical Latin also has the longer quingenteni.[8]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of five hundred denarii each.[1][2][4]
  • 1st century AD – Columella uses it for five hundred.[6][4]
  • c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it in his Lives.[2][4]

Meanings

Numeral

  1. Five hundred each, five hundred at a time.[1][2][6]
  2. Five hundred.[6][7]

Word family

  • quingēnārius

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ 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. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson