quinque

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈkʷiːŋ.kʷɛ]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈkʷiŋ.kʷe]^[1]

Forms

quīnque (indeclinable)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *kʷenkʷe (“five”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *pénkʷe (“five”), with /p/ assimilated to the following /kʷ/.^[2][3] Proto-Italic *kʷenkʷe became *kʷinkʷe by regular sound change.^[2] Cognate with Oscan pomtis (“five times”), Old Irish cóic, Ancient Greek πέντε (pénte), Gothic 𐍆𐌹𐌼𐍆 (fimf) and English five.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found in the Twelve Tables.^[2] Plautus speaks of five minae.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it was the number five, as Lucretius' five senses, Cicero's five planets and Virgil's five zones of the sky.^[4][5] Ovid's quīnque ter was fifteen, and quīnque prīmī were the five chief magistrates of a town.^[5]

Its derivatives are many: quīndecim “fifteen”, quīnquāgintā “fifty”, quīntus “fifth”.^[2] It survives as Italian cinque, French cinq and Romanian cinci.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus speaks of five minae.^[4][6]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius counts five senses.^[4][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of five planets.^[4][6]

Meanings

Numeral

1. Five.^[3][4]

Word family

• quīncū̆nx
• quīncuplus
• quīndecim
• quindecimus
• quīngentī
• quinquātrūs
• quīnquefolius
• quinquegenus
• quinqueiugus
• quinquelībrālis
• quinquelibris
• quīnquennis

Related words

• English five

Usage notes

Plautus once has quīnque for et quīn.^[4][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de