trivium Latin · revision 4536

15 Oct 2026, 23:31 by bogdan “New Latin entry (sources: de Vaan, OLD, Lewis & Short, TLL...)” current version
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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=Cicero|origins=la trēs, la via}}
+ 
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈtrɪ.wi.ũː]^(Wiktionary)
+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈtriː.vi.um]^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ ==Forms==
+ '''trivium''' ''n'' (genitive triviī or trivī); second declension^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is the neuter of [[trivius]] “of three roads”,^(Wiktionary) [[af|la|tri-|via|t2=road]].^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)^(Etymonline)
+ 
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ Cicero, in On Divination, tells a story in which a man reached a crossroads.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016) Köbler dates Cicero 81–43 BC.^(Köbler 2010)
+ 
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ It was a place where three roads meet, a fork, and so any public place, a square or street, as Cicero speaks of things said ''in triviīs aut in compitīs'' “at crossroads and street corners”.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Lucretius and Virgil use it of public places, and an inscription names a god of the crossroads.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Georges 1913)
+ 
+ Bede says the word of God was preached not only in churches but at crossroads and in the countryside.^(DMLBS) In medieval education it was the three lower liberal arts, grammar, logic and rhetoric.^(Niermeyer 1976)^(Wiktionary) Its descendants include Italian ''trebbio''.^(Wiktionary) [[en|trivial]] goes back to its derivative [[trivialis|alt=triviālis]], and [[en|trivium]] is a borrowing.^(Etymonline)^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ ==Timeline==
+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a crossroads.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a public place.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)
+ 
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Noun===
+ # A place where three roads meet, a [[m|en|crossroads]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)
+ # A public place, the street.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016)
+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' The [[m|en|trivium]], grammar, logic and rhetoric.^(Niermeyer 1976)^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[bivia]]
+ * [[bivium]]
+ * [[bivius]]
+ * [[quadriviālis]]
+ * [[quadrivium]]
+ * [[quadrivius]]
+ * [[trivia]]
+ * [[triviālis]]
+ * [[triviāliter]]
+ * [[triviātim]]
+ * [[via]]
+ * [[en|trivium]]
+ 
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}