quintana

Forms

quīntāna f (genitive quīntānae); first declension^[1] Medieval spellings include quintena and quintina.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin quīntānus (“of the fifth”), the feminine used as a noun, perhaps with via (“street”) understood.^[4][1] That adjective is from quīntus (“fifth”) with the suffix -ānus.^[1] The street separated the fifth and sixth maniples of a camp.^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Livy is the first to use it, of the street in a Roman camp where trade went on.^[4][5][6][2]

Semantic evolution

Suetonius uses it, in a transferred sense, of a market.^[4][6] Ælfric's glossary renders it in Old English as “fifth part of the street”.^[3]

In Medieval Latin it was the quintain, a shield hung on a post as a target for jousting, as in Giraldus Cambrensis;^[3] under the year 1253 a text the DMLBS quotes has the young men of London competing at the quintain for a peacock.^[3] Etymonline gives the Anglo-Latin word from the mid-13th century and reports the supposition that the camp street was where military exercises were held.^[7] Niermeyer adds a screen or balustrade, a zone five miles deep around a city, and a country seat,^[8] and medical writers used it for a fever recurring on the fifth day.^[3]

Timeline

• 59 BC–AD 17 – Livy uses it of the street in a Roman camp.^[4][5][2]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it of a market.^[4][5][2]
• late 8th–early 9th century – The Neapolitan Gesta use it in a medieval sense.^[2]
• c. 1400 – English quintain is recorded.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A street in a Roman camp, parallel to the via principalis between the fifth and sixth maniples, where trade took place.^[4][5]
2. A market.^[4][5][9]
3. (Medieval Latin) A quintain, a target for jousting.^[3][7]
4. (Medieval Latin) A screen or balustrade.^[8]
5. (Medieval Latin) A zone five miles deep around a city.^[8]
6. (Medieval Latin) A country seat, a manor.^[8]
7. (Medieval Latin, medicine) A fever recurring every fifth day.^[3]

Word family

• quintānensis

Related words

• quīntus
• English quintain

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
3. ^ a b c d e f g Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c d Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier