[78-L] Trivia question [FWD]

[Mike Harkin]

An online etymological dictionary gives the following information:-

trivial  
1432, "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" (1589) and "insignificant" (1593) were in L. trivialis "commonplace, vulgar," originally "of or belonging to the crossroads." The verb trivialize is attested from 1846. 
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). 

FWIW.

Mike in Plovdiv



--- On Fri, 1/9/09, Per Backman <listpelle at tufftuff.net> wrote:

> From: Per Backman <listpelle at tufftuff.net>
> Subject: Re: [78-L] Trivia question
> To: "78-L Mail List" <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
> Date: Friday, January 9, 2009, 10:07 PM
> >Seems to me this is, more accurately, a question about
> either a single
> >"trivium" or "trivius"...! Or do
> "name and location," being two DISTINCT
> >facts, count as "triviA?" Or...is one a
> "trivia," making the two "triviae?!"
> Trivia, -ae, is Hekate, the godess of the moon (says my
> dictionary)
> 
> Per B.
> 
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