quatro

Forms

quatro m or f^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin quattuor (“four”), through the popular form quattor, and was written Old Galician-Portuguese quatro in the oldest texts.^[2][3][4][1] The form without ⟨u⟩ is already found in Latin inscriptions, with the spelling ⟨quator⟩ in one of them.^[5][6][7]

The same Latin word is Galician catro, Spanish cuatro, Catalan quatre, French quatre, Italian quattro and Romanian patru.^[8][1]

The Latin numeral goes back to *kʷettwōr and to Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwṓr, the neuter of *kʷetwóres, and is cognate with Ancient Greek τέσσαρες (téssares) and the English word four.^[1][9] Wiktionary notes that its ⟨a⟩ is unexplained, since *quettuor would be expected.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's earliest date, 984, comes from Latin documents quoted by Machado.^[2] In Galician-Portuguese the numeral is common from the 13th century: the Cantigas de Santa Maria speak of todo-los quatr'elementos “all the four elements”, and the Crónica Troiana of four kings who came from a land surrounded by the sea.^[6][3]

Semantic evolution

The numeral has kept its meaning; the noun o quatro names the figure 4 and things marked with it, such as a playing card, a domino or the face of a die, and a mark of four in an examination.^[10][11] The phrase de quatro “on all fours” took figurative senses in Brazil, “astonished” and “madly in love”.^[2][12] O diabo a quatro means a great confusion.^[12]

The word passed into the Portuguese creoles and into languages of Brazil: Kabuverdianu kuátu, Papiamentu kuater, Sãotomense kwatu, Kristang kuatu and Nheengatu kuaru.^[1]

Timeline

• 984 – Houaiss's date for the word, from a Latin document.^[2]
• 13th century – quatro in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[6][3]
• 14th century – first record in the CTA, in the Trasladação de S. Nicolau.^[13]
• 15th century – the spelling quatrro.^[2]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary glosses it with Latin quatuor.^[14]
• 1712 – Bluteau defines it as the number that contains two twice.^[15]

Meanings

Numeral

1. four, three plus one: Comprou quatro pães.^[2][11][1]
2. Fourth in a series: a página quatro.^[2][16]

Noun

1. The number four, and the figure that represents it (4, IV).^[2][11]
2. A playing card, a domino or the face of a die with four pips.^[11][10]
3. A mark of four in an examination.^[11][10]
4. de quatro: on all fours;^[2][12] (Brazil, informal) astonished; madly in love.^[2][12]

Related words

• Latin quattuor
• Galician catro
• Spanish cuatro

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. quatro
3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. quatro
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. quatro
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 426
6. ^ a b c 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. quatro
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. quattuor
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6945
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b c Aulete, Francisco Júlio Caldas, Dicionário contemporâneo da língua portuguesa (1st ed. 1881), online as Aulete Digital, Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, https://aulete.com.br, p. s.v. quatro
11. ^ a b c d e 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. quatro
12. ^ a b c d Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 7639
13. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. quatro
14. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. quatro
15. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. quatro
16. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. quatro