Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Quadrivium
‖
Quad-riv′i-um
,Noun.
[L.]
The four “liberal arts,” arithmetic, music, geometry, and astronomy; – so called by the schoolmen. See
Trivium
. Definition 2024
quadrivium
quadrivium
English
Noun
quadrivium (plural quadriviums or quadrivia)
- The higher division of the seven liberal arts in the Middle Ages, composed of geometry, astronomy, arithmetic, and music.
Coordinate terms
Latin
Etymology
From quattuor (“four”) + via (“road”).
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /kʷaˈdri.wi.um/
Noun
quadrivium n (genitive quadriviī); second declension
- a crossroads; place where four ways meet.
- (Medieval Latin) the quadrivium (the four mathematical liberal arts)
Inflection
Second declension.
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | quadrivium | quadrivia |
| genitive | quadriviī | quadriviōrum |
| dative | quadriviō | quadriviīs |
| accusative | quadrivium | quadrivia |
| ablative | quadriviō | quadriviīs |
| vocative | quadrivium | quadrivia |
Descendants
- English: quadrivium
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, 1883–1887)
- Félix Gaffiot (1934), “quadrivium”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.
- quadrivium in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers