English
quaternion
Quaternion comes from Late Latin quaterniō ‘the number four’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwóres.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kʷetwóres‘four’reconstructed
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEquater‘four times’
- Late Latin, derivedc. 200–600 CEquaternī‘four each’
- Late Latin, derivedc. 200–600 CEquaterniō‘the number four’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500quaterniǒun‘an ancient Roman leader of a squad of four soldiers’
- Englishearliest quotation 1526quaternion
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kʷetwóres‘four’reconstructed
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEquater‘four times’
- Late Latin, derivedc. 200–600 CEquaternī‘four each’
- Late Latin, derivedc. 200–600 CEquaterniō‘the number four’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500quaterniǒun‘an ancient Roman leader of a squad of four soldiers’
- Englishearliest quotation 1526quaternion
Earliest quotation: 1526, [William Tyndale, The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible): “Then wer the dayes of unlevended breed, and when…”
The story
The mathematics sense was coined by Irish mathematician and astronomer William Rowan Hamilton in 1843.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwóres ‘four’
fourth, quarry, cater, farthing, quatre, tetrad, cuatro, ferd, quatrain, 17 more
through Late Latin quater ‘four times’
through Late Latin quaterniō ‘the number four’
Today it means
noun A group or set of four people or things.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwóres / quaternion