Theme: 🦠

Introduction

Note: I haven't written in the definitions for words meaning "four", "four-", or "forty" if they're in the respective section.

Teaser

four, tesseract, square, squadron, quarter, Tetris, quarantine

Full Text

• Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwóres oblique stem *kʷetwr-, feminine stem *kʷétesr- ^[1]

  • Albanian katër
  • Anatolian *gʷetʷóres

    • Lycian 𐊗𐊁𐊗𐊁𐊕𐊆 teteri
  • Old Armenian չորք čʿorkʿ

    • Armenian չորս čʿors
  • Balto-Slavic *ketures

    • Lithuanian keturì
    • Slavic *četỳre

      • East Slavic

        • Russian четы́ре četýre
        • Ukrainian чоти́ри čotýry
      • South Slavic

        • Old Church Slavonic четꙑре četyre
        • Serbo-Croatian чѐтири čètiri
      • West Slavic

        • Polish cztery
  • Celtic *kʷetwares

    • Brythonic *pedwar

      • Welsh pedwar
    • Old Irish cethair

      • Irish ceathair
  • Pre-Germanic *petwṓr ^[2]

    • Germanic *fedwōr

      • East Germanic

        • Gothic 𐍆𐌹𐌳𐍅𐍉𐍂 fidwōr ^[3]
        • Crimean Gothic fyder ^[3]
      • North Germanic

        • Old Norse fjórir

          • Danish
          • Icelandic
      • West Germanic *feuwar

        • Old English fēower

          • English four
          • Scots fower
        • Frankish *fiuwar

          • Dutch vier
        • Old High German fior

          • German vier
          • Yiddish פֿיר fir
      • Germanic *fedwōr tigwiz four decades, forty

        • North Germanic

          • Old Norse fjórutigi

            • Danish fyrre(tyve)
            • Icelandic fjörutíu
        • West Germanic

          • Old English fēowertiġ

            • English forty
          • Frankish *fiurtig

            • Dutch veertig
          • Old High German fiorzug

            • German vierzig
            • Yiddish פֿערציק fertsik
  • Hellenic *kʷétwores

    • Ancient Greek τέσσερες tésseres

      • Greek τέσσερις tésseris
      • English tessera-

        • English tesseract
  • Indo-Iranian *čatwā́ras

    • Indo-Aryan *ćatwā́ras

      • Sanskrit चतुर् catur

        • Elu

          • Sinhala හතර hatara
        • Magadhi 𑀘𑀢𑁆𑀢𑀸𑀭𑁄 cattāro

          • Bengali চার car
        • Maharashtri 𑀘𑀢𑁆𑀢𑀸𑀭𑁄 cattāro

          • Marathi चार cār
        • Sauraseni 𑀘𑀢𑁆𑀢𑀸𑀭𑁄 cattāro

          • Madhya

            • Hindi चार cār
          • Pahari

            • Nepali चार cāra
            • Punjabi ਚਾਰ chār
        • Pali catur

          • Malay catur four, chess
        • Sanskrit चतुरङ्ग cátur-aṅga four limbs, four parts, army, chess

          • Pali caturaṅga

            • Malay catur four, chess
          • Middle Persian čatrang

            • Arabic شطرنج šaṭranj chess

              • English shatranj
              • Persian شطرنج šatranj
              • Spanish ajedrez chess
              • Swahili sataranji chess
            • Georgian ჭადრაკი č̣adraḳi chess
            • Mongolian шатар šatar chess
          • Telugu చతురంగము caturaṅgamu
    • Iranian *čaθwā́rah

      • Avestan 𐬗𐬀𐬚𐬡𐬀𐬭 caθβar
      • Bactrian σοφαρο sofaro
      • Northern Iranian

        • Scythian

          • Ossetian цыппар cyppar
      • Pashto څلور shalór
      • Western Iranian

        • Northwestern Iranian

          • Balochi چار cár
          • Kurdish çar
        • Old Persian

          • Persian چهار čahâr
    • Nuristani *čatā́ra

      • Ashkun ćātā
      • Kamviri što
  • Italic *kʷettwōr

    • Oscan 𐌐𐌄𐌕𐌕𐌉𐌖𐌓 pettiur
    • Umbrian 𐌐𐌄𐌕𐌖𐌓 petur
    • Latin quattuor

      • Sardinian bator
      • Eastern Romance

        • Romanian patru
      • Western Romance

        • French quatre

          • Haitian Creole kat
        • Italian quattro
        • Spanish cuatro
      • Latin quadrus square, four-cornered

        • Vulgar Latin *quadrellus diminutive

          • Eastern Romance

            • Dalmatian cadrial brick
          • Western Romance

            • Old French quarel

              • French carreau square, quarrel (tile, windowpane, crossbow bolt)
              • English quarrel
            • Italian quadrello quarrel, quarry tile
            • Spanish cuadrillo #
        • Latin quadrō I make square

          • Vulgar Latin *quadraria quarry "squaring-place"

            • Western Romance

              • Old French quarrière

                • French carrière quarry
                • English quarry
          • Vulgar Latin *exquadrare to make square lit. "to square out"

            • Vulgar Latin *exquadra deverbal

              • Western Romance

                • Old French esquarre

                  • French équerre square (tool)
                  • English square
                • Italian squadra square (tool), team, squad, crew

                  • French escouade squad, sqaudron

                    • English squad
                  • Italian squadrone squadron augmentative

                    • English squadron
        • Latin quārtus

          • Western Romance

            • French quart fourth, quarter

              • English quart
            • Italian quarto fourth

              • English quarto
          • Latin quartarium

            • French quartier

              • English quarter
          • Latin quaternī

            • Old French quaier

              • French cahier

                • English cahier
              • English quire
  • Lusitanian petranioi ^[4]
  • Thracian κετρι ketri ^[5]
  • Tocharian *śǝtwer

    • Arshian śtwar
    • Kushean śtwer
  • Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwr̥- combining form

    • Old Armenian քառ- kʿaṙ-

      • Armenian քառ- kʿaṙ-

        • Armenian քառուղի kʿaṙułi crossroads, intersection lit. "four-way"
    • Germanic *feþur-

      • East Germanic

        • Gothic 𐍆𐌹𐌳𐌿𐍂- fidur-

          • Gothic 𐍆𐌹𐌳𐌿𐍂𐍆𐌰𐌻𐌸𐍃 fidurfalþs four-fold
      • North Germanic

        • Old Norse fer-

          • Icelandic fer-

            • Icelandic ferfet square foot
        • West Germanic

          • Old English fiþer-
    • Hellenic τετρα- tetra-

      • English tetra-

        • English tetrapod
      • Russian тетра- tetra-

        • Russian Те́трис Tɛ́tris Tetris

          • English Tetris
    • Italic

      • Latin quadr(i)-

        • English quadr(i)-

          • English quad
    • Phrygian διθυρ-
    • Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwr̥-(d)ḱomt forty

      • Old Armenian քառասուն kʿaṙasun
      • Balto-Slavic

        • Lithuanian keturiasdešimt
      • Hellenic

        • Ancient Greek τεσσᾰρᾰ́κοντᾰ tessarákonta

          • Greek σαράντα saránta re-bracketed, with the tes- interpreted as a definite article
      • Indo-Iranian *čatwārHćát

        • Indo-Aryan *ćatwārHśát

          • Sanskrit चत्वारिंशत् catvāriṃśát

            • Prakrit *catwaliśá

              • Elu

                • Sinhala හතළිහ hataḷiha
              • Magadhi

                • Bengali চল্লিশ côlliś
              • Sauraseni

                • Madhya

                  • Hindi चालीस cālīs
        • Iranian *čatwārHcát

          • Western Iranian

            • Northwestern Iranian

              • Kurdish çil
            • Old Persian

              • Persian چهل chehel
      • Italic

        • Latin quadrāgintā

          • Western Romance

            • Italian quaranta

              • Italian quarantina about forty, forty days
            • Venetian quaranta

              • Venetian quarantena about forty, forty days ^[6]

                • English quarantine

Visual

Collected English words

four, forty, tessera-, tesseract, shatranj, quarrel, quarry, square, squad, squadron, quart, quarto, quarter, cahier, quire, tetra-, tetrapod, Tetris, quadr(i)-, quad, quarantine

Footnotes

1. ^

   *kʷetwer- is too long for a root. The feminine root suggests that there may have been an original root of just *kʷet-. There are also several reasons to believe that none of this is the original word for four:

   • Hittite's word for "four", meyawes, is unrelated (Hittite is the oldest attested, and oldest split)
   • The word for "eight" *oḱtṓw is a dual, suggesting a lost word for "four" *h₃eḱt-, attested only in Avestan ašti-: "width of four fingers", and likely in Proto-Kartvelian *oxto-: "four".
2. ^

   In Germanic *fedwōr> (PreG *petwṓr>) the irregular sound change from *kʷ- was probably influenced by the *p- in *pénkʷe: "five".

3. ^

   Note that both of the East Germanic forms preserve the medial *d, though it has been dropped in all North and West Germanic languages.

4. ^

   Lusitanian petranioi is known from the Rock inscription from Lamas de Moledo:

   .

5. ^

   Compare Thracian κετρι ketri to the Lithuanian keturì. A connection to Balto-Slavic is one of the strong contenders for classification of Thracian.

6. ^

   An isolation period was imposed by the Venetian Senate on ships arriving in Ragusa during the spread of the Black Death. First recorded in 1377, the waiting period was thirty days (trentena). In 1448, during the Second Plague Pandemic, the waiting period was increased to forty days: the quarantine.