trivium

Contents

EnglishEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Latin

NounEdit

trivium (plural triviums or trivia)

1. (historical, in medieval universities) The lower division of the liberal arts; grammar, logic and rhetoric.
2. (zoology) The three anterior ambulacra of echinoderms, collectively.

Related termsEdit

• trivialis
• quadrivium

Derived termsEdit

• trivia
• trivial

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LatinEdit

EtymologyEdit

From tri- (“three”) +‎ via (“road”). Compare trivius (“epithet of deities having temples at the intersection of three roads”).

PronunciationEdit

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈtri.wi.um/, [ˈtrɪ.wi.ũ]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈtri.vi.um/, [ˈtriː.vi.um]

NounEdit

trivium n (genitive triviī); second declension

1. a crossroads or fork where three roads meet
2. (Medieval Latin) trivium
3. accusative singular of trivium
4. vocative singular of trivium

InflectionEdit

Second declension.

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	trivium	trivia
genitive	triviī	triviōrum
dative	triviō	triviīs
accusative	trivium	trivia
ablative	triviō	triviīs
vocative	trivium	trivia

AdjectiveEdit

trivium

1. nominative neuter singular of trivius
2. accusative masculine singular of trivius
3. accusative neuter singular of trivius
4. vocative neuter singular of trivius

ReferencesEdit

• trivium in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• trivium in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• du Cange, Charles (1883), “trivium”, in G. A. Louis Henschel, Pierre Carpentier, Léopold Favre, editors, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (in Latin), Niort: L. Favre
• “trivium” in Félix Gaffiot’s Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette (1934)
• Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • Hercules at the cross-roads, between virtue and vice: Hercules in trivio, in bivio, in compitis
    
• trivium in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers