quaternity
nounUK /kwəˈtɜːnɪti/ · US /kwɑˈtɜɹnəti/
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Middle French quaternité (“set of four things; (Christianity) dogma that there are four persons in the Godhead”), from Old French quaternité (modern French quaternité); and from their etymon Late Latin quaternitās (“set of four things; (Christianity) group of four persons in the Godhead”) (modelled after trīnitās (“triad; (Christianity) the Trinity”)) + English -ity (suffix forming abstract nouns). Quaternitās is derived from Latin quaternī + -tās (suffix forming abstract nouns denoting states of being); and quaternī is an inflection of quaternus (“four at a time; fourfold”), from quater (“four times”) (from Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwóres (“four”)) + -nus (suffix forming distributive numerals). By surface analysis, quatern + -ity.
A group or set of four; a foursome, a quartet.
- [T]heir VVhole Scale, of all that is above the Body, vvas indeed not a Trinity, but a Quaternity, or Four Ranks and Degrees of Beings, one belovv another; the Firſt of Henades or Unities, the Second of Noes, Minds or Intellects, the Third of Souls, and the Laſt of Natures: theſe being as it vvere ſo many Orbs and Spheres, one vvithin and belovv another.1678, R[alph] Cudworth, chapter IV, in The True Intellectual System of the Universe: The First Part; wherein All the Reason and Philosophy of Atheism is Confuted; and Its Impossibility Demonstrated, London: […] Richard Royston, […], →OCLC, page 557:
- It should perhaps be noted that, throughout the development of his psychological system, [Carl] Jung demonstrated a remarkable passion for the detection of opposites and their resolution through the constellation of quaternities. Not only are there four psychic functions of thinking, feeling, sensation and intuition, but he pointed to Empedocles' four elements, Hippocrates' four 'humours', the ascending quaternity of anima figures (Eve, Helen, Mary, Sophia), the four figures of the Trinity together with the Virgin Mary, and he frequently quoted the lines from the 'Kabeiroi Scene' of [Johann Wolfgang von] Goethe's Faust II: 'Three we took off beside us, / The fourth of them denied us.'2014, Paul Bishop, “A Voyage of Discovery to the Other Pole of the World”, in Carl Jung, London: Reaktion Books, →ISBN, page 194:
Christianity Historical A group of four persons forming the Godhead, in contrast to the Trinity comprising three persons.
- [H]e is bounden to beleue in yͤ trinitie. And yͤ felowe beleueth in a quaternitie. That is ꝙ [quod, i.e., quoth] I yͤ hole trinite ⁊ one moe.1528, Thomas More, “A Dialogue Concernynge Heresyes & Matters of Religion […]. Chapter XIX.”, in Wyllyam Rastell [i.e., William Rastell], editor, The Workes of Sir Thomas More Knyght, […], London: […] Iohn Cawod, Iohn Waly, and Richarde Tottell, published 30 April 1557, →OCLC, book I, page 145, column 1:
- The firſt vvith divers crooks and turnings vvries, / Cutting the tovvn in foure quaternities; / But both joyn to reſiſt invading enemies.1633, P[hineas] F[letcher], “Cant[o] V”, in The Purple Island, or The Isle of Man: […], [Cambridge, Cambridgeshire]: […] [T]he printers to the Universities of Cambridge, →OCLC, stanza 12, page 49:
Synonym of fourness (“the property or state of being four in number”).
- Some that in mystical quaternity / All Deity existed; and the first / Y'cleped Ineffable, and the last, Truth; / Father and Son, gods intermediate.1848, Philip James Bailey, “Scene—A Visit”, in Festus: A Poem, 3rd edition, London: William Pickering, →OCLC, page 208:
- Derived terms
- Quaternitarian
- Related terms
- quarter, quatern, quaternal, quaternalize, quaternary, quaternate, quaternion