quarto

Forms

quarto m (plural quartos)^[1] As an ordinal it agrees: quarto, quarta, quartos, quartas.^[1] Houaiss gives a form carto for 1192.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin quārtus (“fourth”), written Old Galician-Portuguese quarto and Old Galician-Portuguese carto in the oldest texts.^[2][3][1] The ordinal, the fraction “quarter” and the noun “room” are one word.^[2][3] Houaiss says the noun first meant a quarter of a house and so a private chamber.^[2] Nascentes explains the room as a use of the fraction for an indefinite division, not necessarily into four, just as quatro can mean “a few”, as in “between four walls”.^[3] Corominas gives the same explanation for Spanish cuarto “room”, which he dates to the 17th century.^[4]

The same Latin word is Galician cuarto, Catalan quart, French quart and Italian quarto.^[5][1]

The Latin word goes back to *kʷeturtos and *kʷeturtos, from *kʷetwóres (“four”), like Ancient Greek τέταρτος (tétartos).^[1][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A document of 1192–1193 speaks of as tres quartas do padroadigo “three quarters of the patronage”, and the testament of Afonso II (1214) gives a quarta “a quarter” to the hospitallers and to the bishop.^[7] The Miragres de Santiago have hũu carto de carneiro “a quarter of mutton”, and the Cantigas de Santa Maria the ordinal: a quarto dia “on the fourth day”.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The ordinal and the fraction are medieval.^[7] Houaiss dates the noun “a fourth part” to 1720.^[2] Bluteau (1712–1728) has the quarto as a cask holding a quarter of a pipe and the quarto of a building, a part of a large house with its own entrance.^[8] Morais (1789) adds quarto de dormir “bedroom”, which has become the main sense of the noun.^[9][2][1]

Other senses grew from the fraction: a quarter of an hour, a watch at sea or on guard (a quarter of the night), the quarter of a slaughtered animal, the phases of the moon (quarto crescente).^[2][10] In north-eastern Brazil fazer quarto is to keep a wake for the dead.^[11][2]

Timeline

• 1192 – nas tres quartas do padroadigo in a document.^[7][2]
• 1214 – a quarta in the testament of Afonso II.^[7]
• 13th century, second half – a quarto dia in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[7]
• 1569 – Cardoso translates Quarto by Latin quartus.^[12]
• 1712 – Bluteau records the quarto of a building and the cask.^[8]
• 1720 – Houaiss's first date for the noun “fourth part”.^[2]
• 1789 – Morais has quarto de dormir.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A room of a house, especially a bedroom: O apartamento tem dois quartos.^[2][1]
2. A quarter, a fourth part: um quarto do bolo.^[2][1]
3. A quarter of an hour: São dez e um quarto.^[2][10]
4. A turn of watch or guard duty, at sea or on land.^[2][10]
5. A quarter of a slaughtered animal, with the leg.^[2][13]
6. (astronomy) Each quarter of the moon's cycle.^[2]
7. (historical) A cask or measure for wine holding a quarter of a pipe or tun.^[2][1]
8. (north-eastern Brazil) A wake for the dead (velório).^[2][11]

Numeral

1. fourth: o quarto andar.^[2][1]

Word family

• quarta
• quartinho
• quartilho

Related words

• quatro
• quartel
• Latin quartus
• Spanish cuarto

Usage notes

As a man's name Quarto is from the Latin name given to a fourth son.^[14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. quarto
3. ^ a b c Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. quarto
4. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. cuarto
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6936
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. quartus
7. ^ a b c d e f Instituto da Lingua Galega, Dicionario de dicionarios do galego medieval (DDGM), ed. Ernesto González Seoane, Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/ddgm, p. s.v. quarto
8. ^ a b Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. quarto
9. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1789), Diccionario da lingua portugueza composto pelo padre D. Rafael Bluteau, reformado, e accrescentado, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 2, 271
10. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. quarto
11. ^ a b Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. quarto
12. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. quarto
13. ^ Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, revised online edition (2023–) of the Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa Contemporânea (2001), https://dicionario.acad-ciencias.pt, p. s.v. quarto
14. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1952), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 2: Nomes próprios, Rio de Janeiro, p. 409