Etymologically
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quinque

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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

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