quadrivium

English

Etymology

From Medieval Latin quadrivium (“the four mathematical studies”), from Latin quattuor (“four”) + via (“road”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kwɒˈdɹɪvɪ.əm/, enPR: kwŏ-drĭv'ē-əm
• (General American) IPA^(key): /kwɑˈdɹɪvi.əm/, enPR: kwä-drĭv'ē-əm

Noun

quadrivium (plural quadriviums or quadrivia)

2. (education, historical) The higher division of the seven liberal arts in the Middle Ages, composed of geometry, astronomy, arithmetic, and music.

   Synonym: quadrium

   Coordinate term: trivium

   • 1876, James Russell Lowell, Among My Books‎^[1], Second series:

     As to the nature of his studies, there can be no doubt that he [Dante] went through the trivium (grammar, dialectic, rhetoric) and the quadrivium (arithmetic, music, geometry, and astronomy) of the then ordinary university course.

   • 1903 April 18, W[illiam] E[dward] Burghardt Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk: Essays and Sketches, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., →OCLC:

     The riddle of existence is the college curriculum that was laid before the Pharaohs, that was taught in the groves by Plato, that formed the trivium and quadrivium, and is to-day laid before the freedmen’s sons by Atlanta University.

Translations

higher division of the seven liberal arts

French: quadrivium (fr) f German: Quadrivium (de) n Greek: τετρακτύς f (tetraktýs) Italian: quadrivio (it) m Latin: quadrivium n Polish: quadrivium (pl) n, kwadrywium (pl) n Romanian: cvadrivium n, quadrivium (ro) n

Latin

Alternative forms

• quadruvium

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwṓr

Proto-Italic *kʷettwōr

Latin quattuor

Proto-Indo-European *weyh₁-

Proto-Italic *wiā

Latin via

Latin quadrivium

From quattuor (“four”) + via (“road, path”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [kʷaˈdrɪ.wi.ũː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [kʷaˈdriː.vi.um]

Noun

quadrivium n (genitive quadriviī or quadrivī); second declension

1. a crossroads; place where four ways meet.
2. (Medieval Latin) the quadrivium (the four mathematical liberal arts)

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

	singular	plural
nominative	quadrivium	quadrivia
genitive	quadriviī quadrivī1	quadriviōrum
dative	quadriviō	quadriviīs
accusative	quadrivium	quadrivia
ablative	quadriviō	quadriviīs
vocative	quadrivium	quadrivia

¹Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

Descendants

• ⇒ Vulgar Latin: *quadruvium
  • Gallo-Italic:
    • Ligurian: caroggio
      • → Corsican: carrughju
      • → Italian: carruggio
      • → Sicilian: carruggiu, carruju
    • Lombard: carròbbi
      • → Italian: carrobbio
  • Gallo-Romance:
    • Old French: carroge, carouge
      • French: Carouge, Carrouge (Swiss toponyms)
• Borrowings:
  • → English: quadrivium (learned)
  • → French: quadrivium (learned)
  • → German: Quadrivium (learned)
  • → Italian: quadrivio (learned)
  • → Polish: quadrivium, kwadrywium (learned)
  • → Romanian: cvadrivium, quadrivium (learned)

References

• “quadrivium”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “quadrivium”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "quadrivium", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “quadrivium”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “quadrivium”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• Frédéric Godefroy (1880–1902), “carroge”, in Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle […], Paris: F[riedrich] Vieweg; Émile Bouillon, →OCLC.
• “carrefour”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Romanian

Noun

quadrivium n (uncountable)

1. alternative spelling of cvadrivium

Declension

singular only	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	quadrivium	quadriviumul
genitive-dative	quadrivium	quadriviumului
vocative	quadriviumule