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)

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

   Coordinate term: trivium

Translations

higher division of the seven liberal arts

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

Latin

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /kʷaˈdri.u̯i.um/, [kʷäˈd̪riu̯iʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /kwaˈdri.vi.um/, [kwäˈd̪riːvium]

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).

Case	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
  • Ligurian: caroggio
    • → Corsican: carrughju
    • → Italian: carruggio
    • → Sicilian: carruggiu, carruju
  • Lombard: carròbbi
    • → Italian: carrobbio
  • Old French: carroge, carouge
    • French: Carouge, Carrouge (Swiss toponyms)
• → 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’s 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
• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (carroge)
• “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

declension of quadrivium (singular only)

	singular
n gender	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) quadrivium	quadriviumul
genitive/dative	(unui) quadrivium	quadriviumului
vocative	quadriviumule