quinquennium

English

Alternative forms

• quinquennie

Etymology

From Latin quīnquennium, from quinquennis (“5-year”) + -ium (suffix forming abstract nouns).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /kwɪŋˈkwɛniəm/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kwɪŋˈkwɛnɪəm/, /kwɪnˈkwɛnɪəm/

Noun

quinquennium (plural quinquenniums or quinquennia)

1. A period of five years.

   Coordinate terms: annum, biennium, triennium, quadrennium, sexennium, septennium, octennium, novennium, decennium, vicennium, tricennium, centennium, quincentennium, millennium, decamillennium, centimillennium, millionennium

   During the quinquennium from 1991 to 1995, infant mortality increased.

Usage notes

The Roman usage of the term counted inclusively so that quinquennia were 4 year cycles. This is not usually intended in English but may occur in translations of classical texts.

Pentad or the neologism quintade are sometimes used when one wishes to specify the first and second halves of calendrical decades. Lustrum and luster are particularly used for the 5 year periods of the Roman censuses, after the purification ritual that usually followed the count.

Synonyms

• quinquennial, quinquennal, quinquenniad, quintennium, pentad, quintade, lustrum, luster

Hyponyms

• See Thesaurus:quintet

Related terms

• (adj.): quinquennial, quinquennal, quintennial

Translations

period of five years

• Asturian: llustru (ast)
• Basque: bosturteko
• Catalan: lustre (ca) m
• French: quinquennat (fr) m, lustre (fr) m
• Galician: lustro (gl)
• German: Lustrum (de) n, Fünfjahresperiode f, Fünfjahreszeitraum m, Jahrfünft (de) n, Quinquennium (de) n
• Guaraní: poarajere
• Italian: quinquennio (it) m, lustro (it) m, lustra (it) f, quinquennalità f
• Latin: quinquennium, lūstrum n
• Polish: pięciolecie (pl) n
• Portuguese: lustro (pt) m, quinquénio (pt) m
• Russian: люстр (ru) f (ljustr), люстрации f (ljustracii)
• Sanskrit: युग (sa) n (yuga)
• Spanish: lustro (es) m
• Ukrainian: люструм (ljustrum)
• Volapük: lulyel, lulyelayubid

References

• “quinquennium, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022.

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [kʷiːŋˈkʷɛn.ni.ũː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [kʷiŋˈkʷɛn.ni.um]

Etymology 1

From quīnquennis +‎ -ium.

Noun

quīnquennium n (genitive quīnquenniī or quīnquennī); second declension

1. a period of five years, quinquennium

   Synonym: lūstrum

   • 52 BCE – 51 BCE, Cicero, De legibus Liber III.3.7:

     'Censoris populi aevitates suboles familias pecuniasque censento, urbis templa vias aquas aerarium vectigalia tuento, populique partis in tribus discribunto, exin pecunias aevitatis ordinis partiunto, equitum peditumque prolem discribunto, caelibes esse prohibento, mores populi regunto, probrum in senatu ne relinquonto. Bini sunto, magistratum quinquennium habento eaque potestas semper esto, reliqui magistratus annui sunto.'

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • c. 4th century CE, Flavius Vopiscus, Augustan History Pescennius Niger.VII.1-2:

     Sed deceptus est consiliis scaevis Aureliani, qui filias suas eius filiis despondens persistere eum fecit in imperio. His tantae fuit auctoritatis, ut ad Marcum primum deinde as Commodum scriberet, cum videret provincias facili administrationum mutatione subverti, primum ut nulli ante quinquennium succederetur provinciae praesidi vel legato vel proconsuli, quod prius deponerent potestatem quam scirent administrare.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. (plural only, poetic) ellipsis of tria quinquennia; fifteen years
   • 8 CE, Ovid, Metamorphoses IV.292–295:

     is tria cum primum fecit quinquennia, montes
     deseruit patrios Idaque altrice relicta
     ignotis errare locis, ignota videre
     flumina gaudebat, studio minuente laborem.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 8 CE, Ovid, Metamorphoses XII.580–585:

     At deus, aequoreas qui cuspide temperat undas,
     in volucrem corpus nati Phaethontida versum
     mente dolet patria saevumque perosus Achillem
     exercet memores plus quam civiliter iras.
     iamque fere tracto duo per quinquennia bello
     talibus intonsum conpellat Sminthea dictis: […]

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

	singular	plural
nominative	quīnquennium	quīnquennia
genitive	quīnquenniī quīnquennī1	quīnquenniōrum
dative	quīnquenniō	quīnquenniīs
accusative	quīnquennium	quīnquennia
ablative	quīnquenniō	quīnquenniīs
vocative	quīnquennium	quīnquennia

¹Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

Coordinate terms

• (2-year period): biennium
• (3-year period): triennium
• (4-year period): quadriennium
• (6-year period): sexennium
• (7-year period): septuennium
• (8-year period): octennium
• (9-year period): novennium
• (10-year period): decennium

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Adjective

quīnquennium

1. genitive masculine/feminine/neuter plural of quīnquennis

References

• “quinquennium”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “quinquennium”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “quinquennium”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.