Quintus

Quintus is a male given name derived from Quintus, a common Latin forename (praenomen) found in the culture of ancient Rome. Quintus derives from latin word quintus, meaning "fifth".

Quintus is an English masculine given name and a surname. Quintus has been translated into Italian, Spanish and Portuguese, as Quinto.

In other languages

Derived surnames

See also

Quintus (vocal music)

The Latin word quintus, also quinta or quinta vox, refers to the fifth voice in addition to the superius, altus, tenor and bassus in a piece of vocal polyphony. In Baroque vocal music, this fifth voice was added to the principal part and then given to the tenor. The word was particularly used for printed partbooks of five-voice music, where the "quintus" melody might well be for different voices like the discantus or even the contratenor, in addition to the usual four.

By overlaying voices in different planes, the compositional style of the seventeenth century was enriched with polyphonic sounds, expanding itself both to the low as well as the high pitch. The prevailing three or four voices of the latter half of the fourteenth and the first half of the fifteenth centuries, which are almost frequently intertwined between them, already in the latter half of the sixteenth century were preferred by four or five, or even more voices, by the addition of a quintus, also called vagans, and a sextus playing the part of a second cantus, normally in the soprano or mezzo-soprano range.

Quintus (praenomen)

Quintus (Latin pronunciation: [ˈkʷiːntʊs]) is a Latin praenomen, or personal name, which was common throughout all periods of Roman history. It was used by both patrician and plebeian families, and gave rise to the patronymic gentes Quinctia and Quinctilia. The feminine form is Quinta. The name was regularly abbreviated Q.

Throughout Roman history, Quintus was one of the most common praenomina, generally occupying fourth or fifth place, behind Lucius, Gaius, and Marcus, and occurring about as frequently as Publius. Although many families did not use the name at all, it was particularly favored by others. The name continued to be used after the collapse of Roman civil institutions in the 5th and 6th centuries, and has survived to the present day.

Origin and meaning of the name

Quintus is the Latin word for fifth, and it falls into a class of similar praenomina including the masculine names Sextus, Septimus, Octavius, Nonus, and Decimus, as well as the feminine names Prima, Secunda, Tertia, Quarta, Sexta, Septima, Octavia, Nona, and Decima. It is generally believed that the name was originally given to a fifth child, a fifth son, or a fifth daughter. However, it has also been argued that Quintus and the other praenomina of this type could refer to the month of the year in which a child was born. It may be that such names were given for both reasons.