“Trivium” in Latin, means “triple way” = tri (three) and via (way). In medieval Europe, students learned the “trivium,” which comprised of grammar, logic, and rhetoric. After students learned the trivium, they focused on the quadrivium, which comprised of arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. The three Rs (as in the letter R) are three basic skills taught in schools: reading, writing and arithmetic (usually said as "reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic"😉. The phrase was coined at the beginning of the 19th century in reference to the mostly forgotten medieval Trivium.
The 1950s marked an important time in the history of trivia, as quiz shows such as Dotto, The $64,000 Question, and Twenty One became extremely popular. These shows had high ratings until in it was revealed in 1959 that the producers of these shows were feeding answers to the contestants. The Quiz Show Scandals, as they were known, resulted in quiz shows disappearing from network television. It wasn’t until 1982, when Merv Griffin came up with the idea to reintroduce Jeopardy!, that we again had a quiz show on network TV. After the continuing popularity of Jeopardy!, new shows started to pop up in the 1990s, such as Who Wants to be a Millionaire and Win Ben Stein’s Money.
The game of Trivial Pursuit was created on December 15, 1979, in Montreal, Quebec, by Chris Haney, a photo editor for Montreal's The Gazette, and Scott Abbott, a sports editor for The Canadian Press. Three years later, sales had reached 100,000 and 3,500 more were rolling off the assembly line daily.
What’s the difference between trivia and trivial? Well, the pertaining adjective is triviālis. The adjective trivial was adopted in Early Modern English, while the noun trivium only appears in learned usage from the 19th century, in reference to the Artes Liberales and the plural trivia in the sense of "trivialities, trifles" only in the 20th century.