quadrivium

[ kwo-driv-ee-uhm ]

noun

, plural quad·riv·i·a [kwo-, driv, -ee-, uh].

1. (during the Middle Ages) the more advanced division of the seven liberal arts, comprising arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music.

quadrivium

/ kwɒˈdrɪvɪəm /

noun

1. (in medieval learning) the higher division of the seven liberal arts, consisting of arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music Compare trivium

Word History and Origins

Origin of quadrivium¹

1795–1805; < Late Latin, special use of Latin quadrivium place where four ways meet; quadri-, via, -ium

Word History and Origins

Origin of quadrivium¹

from Medieval Latin, from Latin: crossroads, meeting of four ways, from quadri- + via way

Example Sentences

Herschel believed that music belonged as one of the four liberal arts of the quadrivium, alongside arithmetic, geometry and astronomy.

From New York Times

It underpinned the more difficult “quadrivium”—arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy— that students went on to learn; all seven subjects taken in toto being the so-called liberal arts.

From Literature

The four subjects of the ‘quadrivium’ were arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music.

From Nature

Progress in wisdom was to be obtained, so far as secular knowledge was concerned, by the “seven ascents of theoretical discipline,” i.e. the trivium and the quadrivium.

From Project Gutenberg

When lined along all its sides with handsome buildings, the superior elevation above the level of the Lake of the more northerly quadrivium, will be in its favour.

From Project Gutenberg