quattuor Latin · revision 4563

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=Plautus|origins=ine-pro *kʷetwṓr}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈkʷat.tu.ɔr]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈkʷat.tu.or]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''quattuor''' (indeclinable)^(Wiktionary)

+ ''Quātuor'' and ''quattor'' are later spellings.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Plautus scans it in two syllables.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|itc-pro|*kʷetwōr]], [[inh|ine-pro|*kʷétuōr|t=four]].^(de Vaan 2008) The /a/ for expected /e/ is unexplained in Wiktionary's account, and de Vaan takes it from forms with zero grade, [[ine-pro|*kʷt-]], as in compounds with [[m|la|quadru-]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) Cognate with [[osc|pettiur|t=four]] and [[xum|peturpursus|t=quadrupeds]], and further with [[sga|cethair|t=four]], [[sa|चत्वारः|tr=catvā́raḥ|t=four]] and [[grc|τέσσαρες|tr=téssares|t=four]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Plautus uses it.^(de Vaan 2008) Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It was the number four, indeclinable, and formed the base of words such as [[quater]] “four times”, [[quadrāns]] “a quarter” and [[quattuordecim]] “fourteen”.^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012)

+

+ In British medieval Latin ''quattuor tempora'' were the Ember Days, the four seasons of fasting, and ''quattuor viae'' was a crossroads.^(DMLBS) It survives as [[it|quattro]], [[fr|quatre]] and [[ro|patru]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 204–169 BC – Ennius has ''ter quattuor corpora'' “twelve bodies”.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 1300 – English ''quarter'' is recorded, through Old French from a Latin derivative of the same root.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Numeral===

+ # [[m|en|four|alt=Four]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' ''Quattuor tempora'', the [[m|en|Ember Days]].^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[quadricolor]]

+ * [[quadrifluuium]]

+ * [[quadrifluus]]

+ * [[quadrigeminus]]

+ * [[quadriiugis]]

+ * [[quadringentī]]

+ * [[quadripertītus]]

+ * [[quadruplicō]]

+ * [[quadrurbs]]

+ * [[quattuordecim]]

+ * [[quattuorprimi]]

+ * [[quattuorvir]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[triquetrus]]

+ * [[quartus]]

+ * [[en|quarter]]

+ * [[en|square]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Isidore wrote that four took its name from the figure of the square (''quadrātum'').^(Isidore)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}