quattuor - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Latin numbers (edit)

| | 40 | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --- | ------------------------------------- | | ← 3 | IV4 | 5 → | | Cardinal: quattuor Ordinal: quārtus Adverbial: quater Proportional: quadruplus Multiplier: quadruplex, quadriplex Distributive: quaternus, quadrīnus Collective: quaterniō Fractional: quadrāns, teruncius | | |

From Proto-Italic *kʷettwōr (*t duplicated preceding *-w-), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwṓr, neuter plural of *kʷetwóres. Cognates include Sanskrit चतुर् (catur), Old Armenian չորք (čʻorkʻ), Ancient Greek τέσσαρες (téssares), and Old English fēower (English four).

The change of *e to a is unexplained; the expected form would be *quettuor. One theory suggests contamination with the zero-grade form *kʷtwr̥-.

quattuor (indeclinable)

  1. four; 4
    • 8 CE, Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.116–118:
      Iuppiter antiqui contraxit tempora veris perque hiemes aestusque et inaequalis autumnos et breve ver spatiis exegit quattuor annum.
      Venerable Jove brought together the time of spring and through winter, summer, variable autumn, and brief spring completed the year in four seasons.
    • 405 CE, Jerome, Vulgate Leviticus.11.23:
      quicquid autem ex volucribus quattuor tantum habet pedes execrabile erit vobis
      But all other flying creeping things, which have four feet, shall be an abomination unto you.
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Rubattu, Antoninu (2006) Dizionario universale della lingua di Sardegna, "quattro"