tetralogue

English

Etymology

From tetra- +‎ -logue.

Noun

tetralogue (plural tetralogues)

1. A discourse or colloquy involving four individuals.

   Synonym: quadralogue

   • 1966, Günter Grass, “The Prehistory and Posthistory of the Tragedy of Coriolanus from Livy and Plutarch via Shakespeare down to Brecht and Myself”, in Ralph Manheim, transl., The Plebeians Rehearse the Uprising: A German Tragedy, New York, N.Y.: Harvest Books, →LCCN, page xxxii:

     There exists a strange tetralogue entitled: “A study of the first scene of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus.” In it Brecht tried to record his preliminary discussions with his assistants.

   • 1991, John Bossy, “Dialogues, and a Small Riot”, in Giordano Bruno and the Embassy Affair, New Haven, London: Yale University Press, →ISBN, part I (A Dog in the Night-time), page 39:

     It sets the scene for the second layer of the work, the ‘tetralogue’ or four-sided dialogue between Smitho, a serious and enquiring English gentleman, Prudenzio, a classicist pedant, Frulla, a rude servant, and Teofilo, the narrator.

   • 2020, Arthur C. Graesser, Xiangen Hu, Vasile Rus, Zhiqiang Cai, “Conversation-Based Learning and Assessment Environments”, in Handbook of Automated Scoring: Theory into Practice (Chapman & Hall/CRC Statistics in the Social and Behavioral Sciences), CRC Press, →ISBN, part III (Practical Illustrations):

     Collaborative problem-solving has been assessed by tetralogues that have two agents interacting with two humans […].