Etymograph

English

quaternity

Quaternity comes from Middle French quaternité ‘set of four things’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwóres.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kʷetwóres1‘four’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEquater1‘four times’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEquaternus2‘four each’
  4. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEquaternitās3‘set of four things’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400quaternité3
  6. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600quaternité3‘set of four things’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1528quaternity3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin quaternus
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin quaternitas
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English quaternity
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1528, Thomas More, A Dialogue Concernynge Heresyes & Matters of Religion […]. C: “[H]e is bounden to beleue in yͤ trinitie. And…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kʷetwóresWiktionary, Latin quaternus‘four’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEquaterWiktionary, Latin quaternus‘four times’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEquaternusWiktionary, Latin quaternitas‘four each’
  4. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEquaternitāsWiktionary, English quaternity‘set of four things’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400quaternitéWiktionary, English quaternity
  6. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600quaternitéWiktionary, English quaternity‘set of four things’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1528quaternityWiktionary, English quaternity. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1528, Thomas More, A Dialogue Concernynge Heresyes & Matters of Religion […]. C: “[H]e is bounden to beleue in yͤ trinitie. And…”

Equivalent to quatern + -ity

The story

Quaternitās is derived from Latin quaternī + -tās (suffix forming abstract nouns denoting states of being); and quaternī is an inflection of quaternus (‘four at a time; fourfold’), from quater (‘four times’) (from Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwóres (‘four’)) + -nus (suffix forming distributive numerals).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwóres ‘four’

fourth, quarry, cater, farthing, quatre, tetrad, cuatro, ferd, quatrain, 17 more

through Latin quaternus ‘four each’

kern, carillon, quire, 4 more

Today it means

noun A group or set of four; a foursome, a quartet.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “quaternity”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin quaternus, Latin quaternitas. 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 *kʷetwóres / quaternity

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