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quinquagiens

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word quinquagiens

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
116–27 BC, Varro
Ultimate origin
Latin (quīnquāgintā)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin quinquaginta
Latin quinquagesimus
Latin quinquagiens

Forms

quīnquāgiēns (not comparable)[1] It is also spelled quīnquāgiēs.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin quīnquāgintā (“fifty”) + -iēns.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest quotation is from Varro's De lingua Latina, quinquagiens centum milia discrimina, “fifty times a hundred thousand differences”.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

It means fifty times,[2][4] and is used especially in multiplication: sestertium quinquagiens is five million sesterces.[2] Pliny the Elder writes of fighting fifty times (dimicare) and of fifty times a hundred thousand (centena milia), and Celsus has it of rubbing.[4]

Timeline

  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses it in multiplication.[2][3]
  • 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it.[4][3]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of battles and in large numbers.[4][3]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. Fifty times.[2][4][1]
  2. (in multiplication) sestertium quinquagiens, five million sesterces.[2]

References

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

“Quinquagiens.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/quinquagiens. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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