Etymograph

English

quantity

Quantity comes from Latin quantus ‘how much’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *kʷ- ‘the primary interrogative root’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kʷ-1‘the primary interrogative root’root named by Wiktionary
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kʷéh₂onts2‘how much, how many’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kʷāntos3‘how much, many’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEquantus1‘how much’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEquantitās1
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400quantité1
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500quantite1‘a specified piece or quantity of a greater whole or unit’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1985quantity1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English quantity
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Proto-Italic *kʷāntos
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Latin quantus
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1985, Serge Lang, Math!: Encounters with High School Students: “ANN. ra quantity cubed. SERGE LANG. That's right, (ra)³.”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kʷ-Wiktionary, English quantity‘the primary interrogative root’root named by Wiktionary
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kʷéh₂ontsWiktionary, Proto-Italic *kʷāntos‘how much, how many’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kʷāntosWiktionary, Latin quantus‘how much, many’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEquantusWiktionary, English quantity‘how much’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEquantitāsWiktionary, English quantity
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400quantitéWiktionary, English quantity
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500quantiteWiktionary, English quantity‘a specified piece or quantity of a greater whole or unit’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1985quantityWiktionary, English quantity. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1985, Serge Lang, Math!: Encounters with High School Students: “ANN. ra quantity cubed. SERGE LANG. That's right, (ra)³.”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *kʷ- ‘the primary interrogative root’

what, when, who, which, how, where, why, whether, whose, whom, neutral, ubiquitous, rapunzel, quip, whither, ubiquity, cadenza, 13 more

Today it means

noun A fundamental, generic term used when referring to the measurement (count, amount) of a scalar, vector, number of items or to some other way of denominating the value of a collection or group of items.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “quantity”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Italic *kʷāntos, Latin quantus. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *kʷ- / quantity

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