used of a small book contained in a single quire of paper, and so is frequently found in the title of short poems, treatises, &c. A familiar example is the Kingis Quair of King James I. of Scotland. “ Choir, ” a body of singers or the part of a church where the singers sit, was formerly spelled “ quire, ” following the pronunciation of the word (See CHOIR).
QUIRINUS, the Sabine name of the god Mars, probably an
adjective meaning “ wielder of the spear” (Quiris, cf. Janus
Quirinus). Other suggested etymologies are: (1) from the
Sabine town Cures; (2) from Curia, ae. he was the god of the
Roman state as represented by the thirty curies. A. B. Cook
(Class. Rev. xviii., p. 368) explains Quirinus as the oak-god
(que/cus), and Quirites as the men of the oaken spear. From early
times he was worshipped at Rome on the Quirinal hill, whither,
according to tradition, a body of Sabines under Titus Tatius
had migrated from Cures and taken up their abode. In the
religious system of Numa, Quirinus and Mars were both recognized
as divine beings, distinct but of similar attributes and
functions; thus, like Mars, Quirinus was at once a god of war
and a nature god, the protector of fields and flocks. Subsequently,
at the end of the republic, Quirinus became identified
with the deitied Romulus, son of Mars. One of the greater
flamens was attached to the service of Quirinus, a second
college of Salii founded in his honour, and a festival “ Quirinalia
” celebrated on the 17th of February, the day of the supposed
translation of Romulus to heaven. Old Roman formulae
of prayer mention a Hora Quirini, his female cult associate,
afterwards identified with Hersilia, the wife of Romulus.
The name was also borne by the following saints: (I) a Roman tribune who suffered martyrdom under Hadrian; (2) a bishop of Siscia in Pannonia; (3) the patron of the Tegernsee in Bavaria, beheaded in Rome in 269 and invoked by those suffering from gout. The petroleum (Quirinus-oil) found in the neighbourhood of the lake takes its name from him.
QUIRITES (literally “ spearmen ”; see QUIRINUS), the earliest name of the burgesses of Rome. Combined in the phrase
“ populus Romanus Quirites (or Quiritium) ” it denoted the
individual citizen as contrasted with the community. Hence
ius Quiritium in Roman law is full Roman citizenship. Subsequently
the term lost the military associations due to the
original conception of the people as a body of warriors, and was
applied (sometimes in a deprecatory sense, cf. Tac. Ann. i. 42)
to the Romans in domestic affairs, Romani being reserved for
foreign affairs. (For the distinction between Quiritary and
praetorian ownership, see ROMAN LAW.)
QUITO, the capital of the republic of Ecuador, the see of an archbishopric covering the same territory, and the capital of
the province of Pichincha, in lat. 0° 14' S., long. 7 ° 45' W.,
about 114 m. from the Pacific coast and 165 m. in a%irect line
N. E. of Guayaquil, with which it is connected by a railway
completed in 1908. Pop. (1906) 50,840, of whom 1365 were
foreigners, mostly Colombians. It occupies a small basin of
the great central plateau formed by the volcano Pichincha
on the W., the Puengasi ridge on the E., and ridges N. and S.
formed by spurs from the eastern side of Pichincha. The
ground upon which the city is built is uneven and is traversed
from W. to E. by two deep ravines (quebradas), one of which
is arched over in great part to preserve the alignment of
the streets, the drainage of which escapes through a cleft in
the ridge northward to the plain of Tumbaco. The city is
in great part laid out in rectangular squares, the streets
running nearly with the cardinal points of the compass. The
houses of Quito are chiefly of the old Spanish or Moorish style.
The building material in general use is sun-dried bricks, which
in the better houses is covered with plaster or stucco. The
public buildings are of the heavy Spanish type., Facing the
principal square (Plaza Mayor), and occupying the whole S. side,
is the cathedral; on the W. side is the government palace;
on the N. the archbishop's palace; and on the E. the municipal
hall. The elevation of this plaza is 9343 ft. above sea-level.
The finest building in the city is the Jesuits' church,
whose facade is covered with elaborate carving. Among
public institutions are the university, which occupies part of
the old Jesuit college, an astronomical observatory, and eleven
large monastic institutions, six of which are for nuns. One
of the convents, that of San Francisco, covers a whole block,
and ranks among the largest institutions of its kind in the
world. A part of it is in ruins, and another part has been for
some time used as military barracks by the government. The
university has faculties of theology, law and medicine, and has
200 to 2 50 students, but it is antiquated in character and poorly
supported. The eminent botanist and chemist, Dr William
Jameson <I7Q6~1872), was a member of its faculty for many
years. The city has no large commercial houses, and only an
insignificant export trade, chiefly hides and forest products
from the wooded mountain slopes near by. Religious paintings
of a medieval type are produced in large numbers and exported.
The native manufactures include tanned leather, saddles, shoes,
ponchos, woollen and cotton cloth, fibre sandals and sacking,
blankets, coarse matting and coarse woollen carpets. Superior
hand-made carpets are also made, and Quito artisans show much
skill in wood carvings and in gold and silver works; the women
excel in fine needlework and lace-making.
Quito derives its name from the Quitus, who inhabited the locality a long time before the Spanish conquest. In 1533 Sebastian Benalcazar took peaceable possession of the native town (which had been successively a capital of the Seyris and Incas), and in 1541 it was elevated to the rank of a Spanish city. Its full title was San Francisco del Quito, and it was capital of the province or presidency of Quito down to the end of Spanish colonial rule. It has suffered repeatedly from earthquakes, the greatest damage occurring from those of 1797 and 1859.
QUIVER, a case for holding arrows. The word is taken from O. Fr., where it appears in such forms as quivre, cuevre
or coivre. This is apparently cognate with the O. E. cocer,
Ger. Kzicher, quiver or case.. The ultimate origin is obscure,
and the medieval Latin and Greek words cncnrum and KOIQKOUPDV
are stated to be from the German. The word meaning “ to
shake ” or “ tremble ” must be distinguished; this is connected
with “ quaver, ” “ quake ”'; the New English Dictionary takes
these words to be onomatopoeic in origin.
QUOINS (an old variant spelling of “ coin, ” from Lat. cunens, a wedge), in architecture, the term for the external angle of a
building, generally applied to the ashlar masonry employed
to stop the rubble masonry or brickwork of the wall at the
angles, as also of buttresses, doorways or projecting features.
In Saxon work the quoins were built with large stones laid
horizontally and vertically in alternate courses, technically
known as “ long and short ” work. Sometimes, to give greater
importance to the angles of towers, the quoin stones are rusticated,
and this treatment is found extensively employed in
ancient German towns. At Eastbury Manor House in Essex,
built in brick, the quoins at the angles of the walls, doorway
and windows were plastered in imitation of stonework.
QUOITS (O. Fr. coiter, quoiler, to incite), a pastime resembling the ancient discus-throwing which formed one of the five games of the Greek pentathlon (see Discus), the two main differences between the ancient and modern sports being that the quoit is ring-shaped (one surface being rounded, the other-the back being flat) and is lighter than the discus, and its throwing is a test rather of accuracy than strength. Few traces of a game resembling quoits can be found on the continent of Europe, and its origin may be sought for on the borderland of Scotland and England. There are references to it in the Midlands dating from the beginning of the 15th century, and it was one of the games prohibited in the reigns of Edward III. and Richard II. in favour of archery. Ascham, in his T oxophilus (1545), says that “quoiting be too vile for scholars, ” and in old times it was chiefly played by the working classes, who often used horseshoes for want of quoits, a custom still prevailing in country districts. According to the modern rules, slightly modified from the code drawn up in 1869, two iron or steel pins 18 yds. apart are driven into the ground, leaving 1 in. exposed. Each is situated in the centre of an “ end, ” a circle of stiff clay 3 ft.
