quincunx Latin · revision 36192

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=c. 50 BC, Caesar|origins=la quīnque, la ūncia}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈkʷiːŋ.kuːŋks], [ˈkʷiːŋ.kʊŋks]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈkʷiŋ.kuŋks], [ˈkʷiŋ.kuŋks]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''quīncū̆nx''' ''m'' (genitive quīncū̆ncis); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|quīnque|ūncia|t1=five|t2=twelfth part]], literally “five twelfths”.^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan explains it as [[m|la|quīnque|alt=quīnqu-]] with [[m|la|ūncia]];^(de Vaan 2008) the numeral goes back to [[itc-pro|*kwenkwe|t=five]] and [[ine-pro|*penkwe|t=five]].^(de Vaan 2008) Wiktionary connects the name with a Republican bronze coin worth five twelfths of an [[m|la|as]] that bore five dots.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler dates it from Caesar,^(Köbler 2010) who in the ''Gallic War'' describes pits dug in slanting rows arranged ''in quincuncem'', like the five on a die.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Its basic sense is five twelfths of an [[m|la|as]]:^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Horace has schoolboys taught to divide the as, asking what is left when an ounce is taken from a ''quincunx''.^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010) It was also five twelfths of a pound in weight and of a [[m|la|iūgerum]] in land, both in Columella,^(OLD 2012) five ''cyathi'' of a ''sextārius'' in Martial,^(OLD 2012) and five twelfths of an inheritance in Pliny the Younger.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Georges 1913) As a rate of interest it was five twelfths of one per cent a month, five per cent a year, as in Persius.^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010)

+

+ The arrangement of five points like the five on a die gave a name to rows of trees planted that way,^(OLD 2012) and Caesar uses it of pits set out in this pattern.^(OLD 2012) British medieval writers used it for five ounces and, in heraldry, for the quincunx figure.^(DMLBS) English [[m|en|quincunx]] was borrowed in the 1640s, first in astrology.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of pits dug in a five-point pattern.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of five twelfths of an as.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1st century AD – Columella uses it of weight and land measure.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 34–62 AD – Persius uses it of interest at five per cent.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1640s – Borrowed into English as [[m|en|quincunx]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Five twelfths of an [[as]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # Five twelfths of a pound (in weight), of a ''sextārius'' (five ''cyathi''), or of a ''iūgerum''.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)

+ # Five twelfths of anything, such as an [[m|en|inheritance]].^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+ # [[m|en|interest|alt=Interest]] at five twelfths of one per cent a month, five per cent a year.^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010)

+ # An arrangement of five points like the five on a [[m|en|die]], especially of trees; a [[m|en|quincunx]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[quincunciālis]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[as]]

+ * [[ūncia]]

+ * [[en|quincunx]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}