quadrivium

[ kwo-driv-ee-uh m ]

/ kwɒˈdrɪv i əm /

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

Compare trivium.

Origin of quadrivium

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

Such men as Anselm were educated on the Trivium and Quadrivium.

The History of Dartmouth College |Baxter Perry Smith
The four branches of the quadrivium were pursued more casually.

The Mediaeval Mind (Volume I of II) |Henry Osborn Taylor
The first figure in the representation of the quadrivium is Music, with Tubal Cain beneath.

Old English Libraries |Ernest Savage
Astronomy, the third branch of the Quadrivium, had for its practical object the computation of the Churchs calendar.

The Mediaeval Mind (Volume I of II) |Henry Osborn Taylor

In the curriculum of the mediaeval university, astronomy made up with music, arithmetic and geometry the Quadrivium.

The Evolution of Modern Medicine |William Osler

quadrivium

/ (kwɒˈdrɪvɪəm) /

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

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