quattuor

• quattor (rare), quātuor (medieval)
• Symbol: IV or IIII or IIII^or

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

The change of e to a is unexplained; the expected form would be *quettuor.

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈkʷat.tu.or/, [ˈkʷat.tʊ.ɔr]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈkwat.tu.or/

• Audio (Classical)

  (file)

quattuor (indeclinable)

1. (cardinal) 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.

• quādra
• quadrāgintā
• quādrus
• quārtus

• Aromanian: patru, paturu
• Corsican: quattru
• Dalmatian: quater, quatar, kuatri, čatro, quattro
• Emilian: quâter
• Franco-Provençal: quatro
• French: quatuor (borrowing)
• Friulian: cuatri
• Istriot: quatro
• Istro-Romanian: påtru
• Ladin: cater
• Ligurian: quattro
• Lombard: quatar, quater, quasar
• Megleno-Romanian: patru
• Navarro-Aragonese: quatro
  • Aragonese: quatre, quatro
• Neapolitan: quatto
• Old French: quatre
  • Middle French: quatre
    • French: quatre
      • Antillean Creole: katr, kat
      • English: quatre (borrowing)
      • Guianese Creole: katr, kat
      • Karipúna Creole French: kat
      • Louisiana Creole French: kat
      • Seychellois Creole: kat
      • Tayo: katr
  • Norman: quate (continental), quatre (Guernsey), quat' (Jersey)
  • Picard: quate
  • Walloon: cwate
• Italian: quattro
• Old Leonese: quatro
  • Asturian: cuatro, cuatru, cuetru
  • Leonese: cuatru
  • Mirandese: quatro
• Old Portuguese: quatro
  • Fala: cuatru
  • Galician: catro
  • Portuguese: quatro
    • Guinea-Bissau Creole: kuatru
    • Indo-Portuguese: quátor
    • Kabuverdianu: kuátu
    • Kadiwéu: cwaatolo
    • Korlai Creole Portuguese: kwat
    • Kristang: kuatu
    • Papiamentu: kuater
    • Principense: kwatu
    • Sãotomense: kwatlu, kwatu
• Old Occitan: catre, quatre
  • Occitan: quatre, qüate
  • Old Catalan: quatre
    • Catalan: quatre
• Old Spanish: quatro
  • Ladino: kuatro
  • Spanish: cuatro
    • Chavacano: kwatro
    • Palenquero: cuatro
• Piedmontese: quatr
• Romagnol: quatar
• Romanian: patru
• Romansch: quatter, quater
• Sabir: quatr'
• Sardinian: batero, bàtoro, batro, baturu, quatru
• Sicilian: quattru
• Tarantino: quatt
• Venetian: quatro

• Appendix:Latin cardinal numbers

• quattuor in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• quattuor in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• quattuor in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • four successive days: quattuor dies continui
    
  • to hold out for four months: obsidionem quattuor menses sustinere