Quantitas

Latin-English

quantĭt|as, -ātis. (ˈkʷan.ti.tas) fem.

1. A quantity.

[quantus.]

Cic.	100%	Class.	100%	Rom.	6%	Med.	0%	Neo.	0%

Constructions

Noun constructions

• modulorum quantitas — Vitr. [γʹ], [δʹ]

Verb constructions

• quantitas est — Vitr. [β²]; Quint. [ι²]

Loci

Classical

• βʹ⁻² v. Vitruvius, De Architectura 1.2:

Haec componitur ex quantitate quae Graece ποσότης dicitur. Quantitas autem est modulorum ex ipsius operis sumptio e singulisque membrorum partibus universi operis conveniens effectus.

It [order] is dependent on quantity, which is called ποσότης [posotēs] in Greek. Quantity, in turn, is the choice of measurements from the work itself and the proper construction of the whole work from the individual parts of its elements.

• γʹ n. Vitruvius, De Architectura 3.5:

Quo altius enim scandit oculi species, non facile persecat aëris crebritatem, dilapsa itaque altitudinis spatio et viribus, exstructam* incertam modulorum renuntiat sensibus quantitatem.

For, given how high the eye's view is rising, it's not easy for it to cut through the density of the air, and so, having been dissipated by the height's strength and distance, it may return to the senses an unreliable estimate of the measurements it gathered.

• δʹ n. Vitruvius, De Architectura 4.Praef.:

quae subtilissimas haberent proportionibus modulorum quantitates

which [styles] have the greatest precision of quantity in their modules' proportions

• εʹ Vitruvius, De Architectura 5.4:

Igitur intervallo tonorum et hemitoniorum et tetrachordorum in voce divisit natura finitque terminationes eorum mensuris intervallorum quantitate, modisque certis distantibus constituit qualitates.

Thus by an interval of tones and semitones and tetrachords Nature has divided and defined limits in the voice, with its measures according to the quantity of the intervals, and has determined their quality in certain different ways.

Roman

• αʹ Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia 17.24:

itaque laborant et fame et cruditate, quae fiunt umoris quantitate

And so they [trees] suffer both from hunger and indigestion, which are caused by quantity of fluid.

• στʹ Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia 34.22:

Fit autem egesta flammis atque flatu tenuissima parte materiae et camaris lateribusque fornacium pro quantitate levitatis adplicata.

It is made, though, when the thinnest part of the material is carried off by the flames and the blast and attached to the arches and sides of the furnaces according to how light it is.

• ζʹ Trajan, ap. Pliny the Younger, Epistulae 10.55:

Et ipse non aliud remedium dispicio, mi Secunde carissime, quam ut quantitas usurarum minuatur, quo facilius pecuniae publicae collocentur.

My dear Secundus, I myself can't make out another way the public funds might be more easily invested than lowering the interest.

• ηʹ Pliny the Younger, Panegyricus 39.6:

Ac ne remotus quidem [...] a qualibet quantitate vicesimam inferre cogetur.

And not even a distant relative can be forced to bring in the 5% on any amount.

• θʹ Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria 1.5:

Nam vitium quod fit per quantitatem, ut "magnum peculiolum", erunt qui soloecismum putent, quia pro nomine integro positum sit deminutum.

There will be some who would consider an error of degree, as in "magnum peculiolum", to be a solecism, because instead of a neutral word, a diminutive was given.

• ιʹ⁻² v. Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria 11.3:

Natura vocis spectatur quantitate et qualitate. Quantitas simplicior: in summam enim grandis aut exigua est, sed inter has extremitates mediae sunt species et ab ima ad summam ac retro sunt multi gradus.

The nature of the voice is seen in its quantity and its quality. Quantity is simpler, for it will basically be either loud or soft, but between these extremes there are intermediate kinds, and there are many steps from the lowest to the highest and back.