quadrivium

English

Etymology

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

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 terms

• 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

Latin

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Classical) 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
  • Italian: carrobbio, carruggio (from Gallo-Italic)
  • Old French: carroge, carouge
    • French: Carouge, Carrouge (Swiss toponyms)
• → English: quadrivium
• → Italian: quadrivio
• → Polish: quadrivium, kwadrywium

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

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin quadrivium or French quadrivium.

Noun

quadrivium n (uncountable)

1. quadrivium

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