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Origin and history of cinque

cinque(n.)

"a group of five, five units treated as one," especially at cards or dice, late 14c., from French cinq, a dissimilation from Latin quinque "five," in Late Latin also cinque (from PIE root *penkwe- "five").

The Cinque Ports (late 12c. in Anglo-Latin, late 13c. in English) were Hastings, Sandwich, Dover, Romney, and Hythe, granted special privileges from the crown in return for defense of the Channel in the days before England had a navy. Cinque outposts (1640s) was an old term for the five senses.

also from late 14c.

Entries linking to cinque

cinquecento(n.)

also cinque-cento, "the sixteenth century" (in reference to Italian art and literature), 1760, from Italian cinquecento, literally "500," short for mil cinquecento "1500." See cinque + hundred, and compare quattrocento. Also as an adjective.

trey(n.)

late 14c., trei, trai, "card, side of a die, or domino with three spots," from Anglo-French, Old French treis (Modern French trois), oblique case of treie "three," from Latin tria (neuter) "three" (see three). As an old gaming number it goes with ace, deuce, cinque, sice, etc. In slang use for "three (of anything)" from 1887.

*penkwe-

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "five."

It might form all or part of: cinquain; cinque; cinquecento; cinquefoil; fifteen; fifth; fifty; fin (n.) "five-dollar bill;" finger; fist; five; foist; keno; parcheesi; penta-; pentacle; pentad; Pentateuch; Pentecost; pentagon; pentagram; pentameter; pentathlon; Pentothal; Pompeii; Punjab; punch (n.2) "type of mixed drink;" quinary; quincunx; quinella; quinque-; quinquennial; quint; quintain; quintet; quintile; quintessence; quintillion; quintuple.

It might also be the source of: Sanskrit panca, Greek pente, Latin quinque, Old Church Slavonic pęti, Lithuanian penki, Old Welsh pimp, Old English fif, Dutch vijf, Old High German funf.

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    Trends of cinque

    adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

    More to explore

    five
    "1 more than four; the number which is one more than four; a symbol representing this number;" Old English fif "five," from Proto-Germanic *fimfe (source also of Old Frisian fif, Old Saxon fif, Dutch vijf, Old Norse fimm, Old High German funf, Gothic fimf), from PIE root *penkwe-
    V
    In Middle English, -u- and -v- were used interchangeably, though with a preference for v- as the initial letter (vnder, vain, etc.) and -u- elsewhere (full, euer, etc.). The distinction into consonant and vowel identities was established in English by 1630, under influence of con
    quint
    mid-15c., quinte (late 13c. in Anglo-French), "a tax of one-fifth," from Old French quint, from Latin quintus "the fifth," ordinal to quinque "five" (from PIE root *penkwe- "five"). Used in English for "group or set of five" since 17c. First attested 1935 as a shortening of quint
    sandwich
    The family name is from the place in Kent, one of the Cinque Ports, Old English Sandwicæ, literally "sandy harbor (or trading...
    six
    chances," first in Chaucer, perhaps from dicing (the original form was on six and seven); it could be a corruption of at cinque...
    fin
    Old English finn "fin," from Proto-Germanic *finno (source also of Middle Low German vinne, Dutch vin), perhaps from Latin pinna "feather, wing" (see pin (n.)); or, less likely, from Latin spina "thorn, spine" (see spine). U.S. underworld slang sense of "$5 bill" is 1925, from Yi
    bender
    late 15c., "instrument for bending," agent noun from bend (v.). Slang meaning "drinking bout" is American English, attested from 1846, perhaps from the Scottish sense of "a hard drinker" (1728). Perhaps from the verb in the figurative sense of "strain, brace, wind up." Other slan
    slander
    late 13c., sclaundre, "state of impaired reputation; disgrace or dishonor;" c. 1300, "a false tale or report spread maliciously; the fabrication and dissemination of false tales to discredit someone," from Anglo-French esclaundre, Old French esclandre "scandalous statement," alte
    recalcitrant
    "refusing to submit, not submissive or compliant," 1823, from French récalcitrant, literally "kicking back" (17c.-18c.), from Late Latin recalcitrantem (nominative recalcitrans), present participle of recalcitrare "to kick back" (of horses), also "be inaccessible," in Late Latin
    grammar
    late 14c., "Latin grammar, rules of Latin," from Old French gramaire "grammar; learning," especially Latin and philology, also "(magic) incantation, spells, mumbo-jumbo" (12c., Modern French grammaire), an "irregular semi-popular adoption" [OED, 2nd ed. 1989] of Latin grammatica

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