quadrivium
[kwo-driv-ee-uh m]
- (during the Middle Ages) the more advanced division of the seven liberal arts, comprising arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music.
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Compare trivium.
Origin of quadrivium
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
tetralogytetradquaternityquadriviumquadrupletquadruplequaternionquaternaryquadrumviratequartetquadrigeminalExamples from the Web for quadrivium
Historical Examples
Such men as Anselm were educated on the Trivium and Quadrivium.
The History of Dartmouth CollegeBaxter Perry Smith
The Trivium was sometimes designated as logic and the Quadrivium as physic.
Woman under MonasticismLina Eckenstein
The four branches of the quadrivium were pursued more casually.
The Mediaeval Mind (Volume I of II)Henry Osborn Taylor
Music, the fourth branch of the Quadrivium, was zealously cultivated.
The Mediaeval Mind (Volume I of II)Henry Osborn Taylor
Thus the first three books contain the Trivium and Quadrivium.
The Mediaeval Mind (Volume I of II)Henry Osborn Taylor
quadrivium
- (in medieval learning) the higher division of the seven liberal arts, consisting of arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and musicCompare trivium
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Word Origin
from Medieval Latin, from Latin: crossroads, meeting of four ways, from quadri- + via way
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for quadrivium
n.
"arithmetic, music, geometry, astronomy," 1804 (see liberal arts), from Latin quadrivium, which meant "place where four roads meet, crossroads," from quadri- "four" (see quadri-) + via "way, road, channel, course" (see via). The adjective quadrivial is attested from late 15c. in English with the sense "having four roads."
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper