trivia

Forms

trivia f (genitive triviae or triviāī, masculine trivius); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is the feminine of the adjective trivius (“of the crossroads”), used as a noun;^[2][3][1] the adjective is formed from trivium (“place where three roads meet”).^[2] Wiktionary analyses it as from Latin tri- (“three”) + via (“road”).^[1] The name refers to deities whose shrines stood where three ways met.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis and Short cite it first from Ennius, quoted by Varro, as a name of Diana.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In Classical poetry Trivia is a standing name of Diana, worshipped at crossroads: Catullus, Tibullus, Virgil and Ovid use it.^[3][5] Several dictionaries identify her also with Hecate.^[6][4][7] Lucretius has the archaic genitive Triviāī in the phrase Triviai virgo, and Propertius writes Trivia dea.^[3] The lacus Triviae, the lake of Diana in Latium near Aricia, appears in Virgil and Statius.^[3]

Timeline

• 204–169 BC – Ennius names Diana Trivia (quoted by Varro).^[3][8]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius has the genitive Triviai.^[3][8]
• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus uses the name in his poems.^[5][8]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it in the Aeneid and names the lacus Triviae.^[3][8]

Meanings

Noun

1. Trivia, an epithet of Diana as goddess of crossroads; also of Hecate.^[2][3][6]
2. lacus Triviae: the lake of Diana near Aricia in Latium.^[3]

Related words

• trivium
• trivius
• via

Usage notes

Trivia is also the plural of the neuter noun trivium, “place where three roads meet”;^[9] English trivia “trifling facts” was taken from that plural.^[9] The masculine and feminine plural of trivius could name the gods of the crossroads together.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ a b Simpson, D. P. (1959), Cassell's New Latin Dictionary, London: Cassell
7. ^ VoLat: Vocabolario della Lingua Latina (2018), Milan: Hoepli
8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com