Where does “quarters” come from?
Quarters comes from French quartier, derived from French quart meaning "fourth," which traces to Latin quattuor meaning "four" with the agent suffix -arius.
quarters (English): plural of quarter; Housing, barracks or other...
Definitions
- plural of quarter; Housing, barracks or other...
Ancestry of “quarters”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | quarter | "A fourth part of something."; "Place or... |
| 2 | Middle English | quarter | A quarter fourth part of something |
| 3 | Anglo-Norman | quarter | — |
| 4 | Latin | quartarius | quartarius, a Roman unit of liquid measure equivalent to about 0.14 L |
| 5 | Latin | quārtus | fourth |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | kʷeturtos | — |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | kʷetwóres | four |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | kʷe- | and |