diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index f9ef5ec9ed8..4ae5479c423 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ Features added
   the behavior of globaltoc in sidebar
 * #7840: i18n: Optimize the dependencies check on bootstrap
 * #5208: linkcheck: Support checks for local links
+* #5090: setuptools: Link verbosity to distutils' -v and -q option
 * #7052: add ``:noindexentry:`` to the Python, C, C++, and Javascript domains.
   Update the documentation to better reflect the relationship between this option
   and the ``:noindex:`` option.
diff --git a/sphinx/setup_command.py b/sphinx/setup_command.py
index 24beab8566b..29a9dace785 100644
--- a/sphinx/setup_command.py
+++ b/sphinx/setup_command.py
@@ -105,7 +105,8 @@ def initialize_options(self):
         self.config_dir = None  # type: str
         self.link_index = False
         self.copyright = ''
-        self.verbosity = 0
+        # Link verbosity to distutils' (which uses 1 by default).
+        self.verbosity = self.distribution.verbose - 1  # type: ignore
         self.traceback = False
         self.nitpicky = False
         self.keep_going = False