quinquaginta

Forms

quīnquāgintā (indeclinable)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from quīnque (“five”) and -gintā (“ten (in multiples)”),^[2] continuing Proto-Indo-European *penkʷēḱomt (“fifty”), from an earlier “five tens”.^[1] It is cognate with Ancient Greek πεντήκοντα (pentḗkonta, “fifty”).^[1] De Vaan derives ⟨quīnque⟩ from Proto-Italic *kʷenkʷe (“five”) and Proto-Indo-European *penkʷe (“five”), with the long /iː/ taken over from the ordinal ⟨quīntus⟩.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus is its first author,^[4] with quīnquāgintā et quattuor, “fifty-four”, in the Miles gloriosus.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It is the indeclinable numeral “fifty”, as Virgil's fifty maidservants and Cicero's fifty thousand.^[2][5] Church Latin glosses it “fifty”.^[6] Köbler records it widely in early medieval laws and charters.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus has quīnquāgintā et quattuor.^[5][4]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of fifty maidservants.^[5][4]

Meanings

Numeral

1. Fifty.^[2][5][1]

Word family

• quīnquāgēnus
• quinquāgēsiēs
• quīnquāgēsimus
• quīnquāgiēns

Related words

• quīnque
• quīntus
• quadrāgintā
• sexāgintā

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson