Words of the Day 25/6/10

trivium  quadrivium-- trivia nowadays means a bit of unimportant knowledge but in the middle ages the words trivium and quadrivium (3 roads/4 roads) described serious paths of study.

triv·i·um [triv-ee-uhm]
–noun
(during the Middle Ages) the lower division of the seven liberal arts, comprising grammar, rhetoric

trivium 
1804, from M.L., "grammar, rhetoric, and logic," first three of the seven liberal arts in the Middle Ages, considered less important than arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music. From L. trivium "place where three roads meet" (see trivial).

trivial 
early 15c., "of the trivium," from M.L. trivialis, from trivium "first three of the seven liberal arts," from L., lit. "place where three roads meet," from tri- "three" + via "road." The basic notion is of "that which may be found anywhere, commonplace, vulgar." The meaning "ordinary" (1580s) and "insignificant" (1590s) were in L. trivialis "commonplace, vulgar," originally "of or belonging to the crossroads." The verb trivialize is attested from 1846.
trivia 
"trivialities, things of little consequence," 1902, popularized as title of a book by L.P. Smith, from L. trivia, pl. of trivium "place where three roads meet" (see trivial).
liberal arts 

quad·riv·i·um  [kwo-driv-ee-uhm]
–noun, plural quad·riv·i·a [kwo-driv-ee-uh] 
(during the Middle Ages) the more advanced division of the seven liberal arts, comprising arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music

Origin,

late 14c., translating L. artes liberales; the seven attainments directed to intellectual enlargement, not immediate practical purpose, and thus deemed worthy of a free man (liberal in this sense is opposed to servile or mechanical). They were divided into the trivium -- grammar, logic, rhetoric -- and the quadrivium -- arithmetic, geometry, music, astronomy.

Answers to Which Words 019

Excurrent (c)running out or forth
Funereal (b)mournful
Groyne (c) a small jetty     how can that be ?

Which Words 020

Herbivore (a)a plant-killing chemical (b)a plant with medicinal properties (c)an animal feeding on plants
Inflect (a)to blend (b)to puff out (c)to impose so as to be suffered
Jacuzzi (a)a very hot green chilli (b)a type of spa (c)a large wine bottle
  

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oh oh - where did the English language go?

at the three-way

What did the Greeks say when they saw the Romans coming? (You don't need to know any Greek to answer this.)

what did thre Greeks say ?

Artfizz I could meet you there  

http://www.australianexplorer.com/three_ways.htm

via Google earth?

or surf the 'super-highway'

I'd probably get knocked over by a phishing smack.