bivium Latin · revision 6323
16 Oct 2026, 06:59 by bogdan “New Latin entry (sources: de Vaan, OLD, Lewis & Short, TLL...)” current version
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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=Varro|origins=la bi-, la via}}
+
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈbɪ.wi.ũː]^(Wiktionary)
+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈbiː.vi.um]^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Forms==
+ '''bivium''' ''n'' (genitive biviī or bivī); second declension^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is the neuter of [[bivius]] “having two ways”, from [[bi-|t=two]] and [[via]] “way”, used as a noun.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Gaffiot 2016) Isidore of Seville explains it simply as a double way.^(Isidore)
+
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ The OLD's first citation is Varro, of a choice between two methods.^(OLD 2012) Köbler's first source is Virgil.^(Köbler 2010) Köbler dates Varro 116–27 BC.^(Köbler 2010)
+
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ It meant a place where two roads meet, a fork, as in Livy and Virgil, with Virgil's ''bivium portae'' “a double gate”.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) Figuratively it meant a pair of alternative methods, as in Varro.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)
+
+ In Medieval Latin it meant a road-fork, a parting of the ways, a choice of alternatives, and a dilemma.^(DMLBS) It survives in Italian ''bivio''.^(Wiktionary) Compare [[trivium]] and [[quadrivium]], places where three and four roads meet, whence [[en|trivial]].^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Timeline==
+ * 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of two methods.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a fork and a gateway.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of a meeting of roads.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Noun===
+ # A place where two roads meet, a [[m|en|fork]].^(OLD 2012)
+ # ''bivium portae'', a double gate.^(OLD 2012)
+ # A choice of two methods, ''(Medieval Latin)'' a [[m|en|dilemma]].^(OLD 2012)^(DMLBS)
+
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[bivia]]
+ * [[bivius]]
+ * [[quadriviālis]]
+ * [[quadrivium]]
+ * [[quadrivius]]
+ * [[trivia]]
+ * [[triviālis]]
+ * [[triviāliter]]
+ * [[triviātim]]
+ * [[trivium]]
+ * [[via]]
+
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}