TRIVIUM (

See also:

• LAT

Lat. for

See also:

• CROSS

cross-road, i.e. where three roads meet, from tres, three, and via, road)  , in medieval educational systems, the curriculum which included grammar, rhetoric and logic . The trivium and the quadrivium (arithmetic, music, geometry and astronomy) together made up what are known as the seven liberal arts (see EDUCATION: Schools) . From the word in its original sense is derived the adjective " trivial " (post-Aug . Lat. trivialis), that which can be seen at the cross-roads, i.e. unimportant, commonplace . In botany and zoology the " trivial " name is the adjectival name which follows the genus name in a binominal system of nomenclature, as canna, perennis, in Rosa canina, Bellis perennis .