† quarantyn.

Etymology: < French quarantie (1615) and its etymon Italian (now hist.) quarantia Venetian council having forty members which were drawn from the Grand Council (c1330 or earlier), in later use also a Venetian court of judicature (first half of the 16th cent.: see note) < quaranta forty (see Quarant' Ore n.) + -ia -y suffix³.The council having forty members was instituted at the end of the 12th cent., the court of judicature in the 14th cent., but the word is apparently only attested later in each sense. In quot. 1636, the English translator apparently misapprehended the Italian plural form quarantie as a singular, identifying it with -ty suffix¹. Later uses in an English context of the form quarantie are likely to show the Italian plural form, e.g.: 1905 F. M. Crawford Salve Venetia II. 291 The second category of nobles comprised by far the sanest and most intelligent part of the aristocracy, and it was generally from their ranks that the Quarantie were chosen. With the form quarancy compare -ancy suffix.