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quadrivial. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
quadrivial, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
quadrivial in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
quadrivial you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin quadriviālis. By surface analysis, quadrivium + -al.
Pronunciation
Noun
quadrivial (plural quadrivials)
- Any of the four "liberal arts" making up the quadrivium.
c. 1521, John Skelton, Speke Parott:Tryuyals, & quatryuyals, ſo ſore now they appayre
That Parrot the Popagay, hath pytye to beholde
How the reſt of good lernyng, is roufled vp & trold
1691, [Anthony Wood], Athenæ Oxonienses. An Exact History of All the Writers and Bishops who have had Their Education in the Most Ancient and Famous University of Oxford from the Fifteenth Year of King Henry the Seventh, Dom. 1500, to the End of the Year 1690. , volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Tho Bennet :St. Edmund was bred in this University in the Trivials and Quadrivials till he was Professor of Arts
Adjective
quadrivial (not comparable)
- Having four ways meeting in a point.
- Relating to the quadrivium.
1893, Wilfrid Wallace, Life of St. Edmund of Canterbury: From Original Sources, page 85:[…] but he took the greatest interest in the Quadrivial Curriculum, that is, mathematical science, on account of its intrinsic charms and the rigour of its demonstration.
References
“quadrivial”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.