The Origins of Trivia Facts and Stats

History of Small Knowledge From Trivia Boardgames to Television

May 16, 2008

The word trivia when broken down etymologically means three ways, referring to very real and important conversations had by travelers along intersections.

Now some synonyms are small beer, trifle, and insignificant, and although it is mind-bogglingly easy to find trivia information on everything from palindromes to sliced bread on the web, it is surprisingly difficult to pin down what exactly trivia is, where it comes from, how it derived its meaning, or how it has come to dominate family time and prime time television.

The Early History of Trivia and Trivium

Real documented fact are hard to come by but most definitions agree that trivia can be broken down into two parts - "tri" and "via" - and can be interpreted as three ways. But the similarities end there. While some say that the meaning came from the real and important conversations and exchange of information between tradesmen, merchants, and travelers, other sites tell of taverns built on roadsides where three ways and conversations grew uncouth, vulgar, and consequently insignificant nature.

There my be some significance to the number three, however, as the Online Etymology Dictionary traces trivia back to its Latin trivium, meaning 1) the first three of seven liberal arts studies, or 2) of or belonging to the crossroads. Apparently, Medieval universities taught three subjects (grammar, rhetoric, and logic) in a set call "trivium" as part of a liberal arts education. But as time meandered on, the meaning of the word trivia began to go the way of tavern talk and soon came to mean “small beer”, “trifle”, and “insignificant.”

Also, the Roman goddess Trivia ruled over both the night and the crossroads, and was often associated with witchcraft and sorcery as well as ghosts and child birth. Interestingly, her Greek counterpart, Hecate, had powers that were tri-fold - over the earth, sea, and sky.

Modern Trivia and Game Shows

But the significance and weight behind the word was further belittled In America during the 1960s by Columbia University students D. Carlinsky and E Goodgold, who reportedly created the earliest inter-collegiate quizzes to test culturally important and unimportant facts in a book aptly titled, Trivia. These "trivia contests" were pivotal in the development of the popular games of intellectual indication that we play today, according to William Lund and his on-line article, A Brief History of Trivia Games in America.

Jeopardy, Trivial Pursuit, Who Wants to Be Millionaire, Weakest Link, and many more games and game shows shot out from the "battle of the brains" idea. Trivia fascinates us like moths to a flame, perhaps evoking in us the old addage that knowledge is power and with enough brains one can best one's opponent or at least win some money tryng. So while trivia may no longer be the subject of study for the graduate, if you know enough of it you might land a spot sitting across from Regis.

Trivia Fact or Fiction

So to help you get started, here are a few of the more interesting bits gathered during research. Have fun proving them, which is also part of the fun:

The copyright of the article The Origins of Trivia Facts and Stats in Games is owned by Jeremy Perkins. Permission to republish The Origins of Trivia Facts and Stats in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.