LATIN DICTIONARYLexicon Latīnum
proper noun · masculinethird declension

Quirītēs

Quirītēs m pl (genitive Quirītium or Quirītum)
Classical[kʷɪˈriː.teːs]Ecclesiastical[kʷiˈriː.tes]

Meaning

  1. The endonym of the Romans in their civil capacity, while Rōmānī referred to them in a political and military capacity.
  2. poeticrarethe inhabitants of the Sabine town, Cures

Latīnē defined in Latin in our graded readers

nōmen antīquum cīvium
Quirītēs -ium — in Epistulae, ch. 19

Declension

declension
formsingularplural
nominative—Quirītēs
genitive—Quirītium
Quirītum
dative—Quirītibus
accusative—Quirītēs
Quirītīs
ablative—Quirītibus
vocative—Quirītēs

Quĭrītes, v. Quiris.

Origins

Uncertain. A common proposal is Proto-Italic *kom + *wiros (“fellow man”), which De Vaan (2008) rejects by contrasting the phonetic evolution in cūria, yet doesn't settle on an etymon. Against this, Vine (2016) suggests that the two words could simply stem from periods of different stress, so that different syllables underwent vowel reduction: /kowiˈriː-/ > /kʷiˈriː-/ like Late Latin quāgulum from coāgulum. According to a Roman legend, from the Sabine town, Curēs, which would make it a Sabine loanword. In Ancient Greek the inhabitants of Cures were named Κυρῖται (Kurîtai). Compare Ancient Greek Κούρητες (Koúrētes).

Quick answers

What does Quirītēs mean in Latin?
Quirītēs, a proper noun, means “The endonym of the Romans in their civil capacity, while Rōmānī referred to them in a political and military capacity.; the inhabitants of the Sabine town, Cures”.
What is the genitive of Quirītēs?
The genitive singular is Quirītium. Quirītēs is masculine, third declension.
How do you pronounce Quirītēs?
In classical Latin, [kʷɪˈriː.teːs]; in ecclesiastical (church) Latin, [kʷiˈriː.tes].