A dictionary of English etymology.

374 Pages·2009·30.8 MB·English

by  Wedgwood, Hensleigh, 1803-1891.

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DICTIONARY
OF
ENGLISH ETYMOLOGY.
BY
HENSLEIGH WEBGWOOD, M.A.
FELLOW
LATE OF CHR,. COLL. CAM.
VOL
III. (Q--z.)
LONDON:
& PATERNOSTER
TRUBINEII CO., 60, ROW.
1865.
JOHN CHILDS AND SON) PRINTERS.
DICTIONARY
ENGLISH ETYMOLOGY,
Aris-
To Quack. To make a noise like a duck or frog.
tophanes represents the croaking of a frog by the syllables
Koae, Koae. Lat. coaxcre; G. quacken, quacksen, to croak
like a frog; Lith. kwak'eti, kwaks'ti, to croak, quack, cluck,
gaggle.
gener-
Quack, Quacksalver. The salving of wounds was so
ally taken as a type of the healing art, that no reasonable
doubt can be entertained of the meaning of the latter element
quacksallier,
in G. Du. kwa/czalver, kwakzalfster, B. quack-
salver. The import of the element quak is not so clear. It
has usually been explained as having reference to the noisy
outcry with which the quacksalver or mountebank (G. mar/ct-
schreier) vaunts his wares.
STeoe k out for plants with signatures
quack off universal cures,-Hudibras.
IDu. lcwak, a jest, or story. De kwakzalver vertelde aardige
kwakken, the mountebank told them funny stories.-P. Manin.
But when we look to the dialects of the north of Europe,
where the word seems to have originated, we are led to a
different explanation.
Qaackelen in P1. ~D. and Pu. signifies to babble, to talk
VOL. III. B
I636)(
QUACKSALYER. QUAI'F,
much and idly, and thence the meaning seems to have been
extended to trifling, acting inefficiently or without settled
purpose, dabbling, working unskifully, bungling. 'T qakkelt
soo wat met vriezen, it palters about freezing, does not set
seriously to work : whence quakkelwinter, a mild winter, freez-
ing and thawing alternately. Quaklvelziekte, a trifling illness;
quakkelgeld, money spent in trifles. P1. D. 1k keer ml an keen
quakkeln, I stand no trifling, go my own way. Du. quack,
quackelinge, frivolum, nuga, res frivola .-Jigl. Dan. qua/dc,
to deal with what one does not rightly understand, to dabble,
bungle; quakleri i landbruget, i lwgekonster, dabbling in
farming, in medicine; kicerlingquakleri, old wives' doctoring.
Quakleri is also applied to trifling hindrances. Sw. quackla,
quacksalwa, to drug, to physic ;- med sig, to take too many
slops, to take a great deal of physic to little purpose-Wide-
gren: quacklande,t oo much medicine, quackery, charlatanery.
-Nordforss.
The original meaning of quacksalver would thus be a bun-
gler or ignorant pretender to medicine, an idea expressed
also (although from a different metaphor) by the Du,
synonym lapzalver, a bungler in medicine, properly a cobbler
of the body, from lappen, to patch, to botch, or mend
clumsily.
To Quaff. I quaugld, I drink all out, je bois d'autant.-
Palsgr. In Scotland a child is said to wacht when sucking
so forcibly as to swallow a considerable quantity at once.
Waaght, a hearty draught.
Cou'd your skill
But help us to a ucaught of ale,
I'd be oblig'd t' ye a' my life.-Ramsay.
To wauokt, waught, wauck, to drink copiously.
Thay skink the wyne and wauckitis cowpys full.-D. V. 210. 8.
Nather Lord nor iKnicht he lute alane,
Except his coup war wachtit out alway.--Burne in Jam.
Thay wauchit at the wicht wyne.-Dunbar.
The forum above cited seem to represent the sounds made in.
QUAIL.
QUAFF.
an eager draught of liquid, as Sw. qu4fwa, to choke, does the
sound of gasping for breath in choking. Analogous forms
huff,
are G. haucchen, E. whff, to draw the breath, waft, a
draught of air; the resemblance in sound between the act of
drawing breath and of taking a draught of liquid.being
witnessed by Sc. souch (ch gutt.), souf, to draw a deep breath
as in sleeping, and G. sazfeit, to drink deep; sofJ a draught,
or gulp.
Quag, Quagmire. See Quake.
Quail. Du. quackel, It. quDagul.i a, Grisons quaera, a quail,
from the note of the bird. quacken, to cry as a quail ;
P1. D. quackein, to tattle. Mid. Lat. quaquila, Prov. quis-
quila, a quail; quilar, Sw. quilra, to pipe, to twitter.-Zulu
queile, expressive of a ringing sound, partridge; quali, the
small wild red pheasant, so called from its noise.-Ddhne.
quag-
To Quail. 1. To curdle as milk.-B. In s. s. It.
hare,
cagliare, Ptg. coalkar, Fr. cailler XY. ceulo. It. quaghlo,
gaglio, Pu. quaghel, W. caul, Lat. coagulum, rennet, the in-
fusion used to curdle milk. Of these the Lat. coagulum,
rennet, or curdled milk, derived from con and agere, to drive
together, is commonly supposed to be the original. But the
word admits of a perfect explanation from the Germanic root
shown in Prov. E. qitaggle, a tremulous motion (Hal.), G.
quackeln, to waver, on the same principle on which N. quail,
a flesh,
soft gelatinous body, soft fat or is derived from ON.
quapa, to tremble. In like manner may perhaps be ex-
plained E. curdle, properly cruddle, from Prov. crotlar, OFr.
crodler, crosler, to shake. Compare also Swiss hottern, to
shake, to jog, with Pu. hot, hotte, curds ; Sc. liattit crcamn,
clotted cream. If we may judge from the words signifying
butter and cheese, the Latins seem to have .learned dairy
operations from the Germanic races, and coagulum may be an
accommodation of the form quagel to a Latin derivation, in the
same wvay that the G. butter was made to bear a reference to the
animal from whence it was produced, when adopted. in Greek
under the form of f3ovrvpov, as if from /3ovs, an ox.
B 2
QUAIL. QUAINT.
2. To quail, as when we speak of one's courage quailing,
is probably a special application of quail, in the sense of cur-
dle. The bodily effect of fear or horror being very similar
to that of great cold, these mental emotions are represented
as causing the blood to congeal or curdle.
Yet I express to thee a mother's care:
God's mercy, maiden, does it curd thy blood
To say I am thy mother ?
To-day a mighty hero comes, to warm
Your curdling blood, and bid you Britons arm.-Garth.
Mi s'agghiacciO ii sangue per la paura, my blood congealed
with fear. So also It. cagliare, Piedm. quaj, to curdle as
milk, to begin to be afraid of one's adversary, to quail in
one's courage.--F1. The metaphor is carried still further in
It. cagliare, to hold one's peace; Sp. callar, to keep silence,
to abate, become calm.
When somer took in hand the winter to assaile
With force of might, and vertue great, his stormy bla&ts to quaile.
-Surry in R.
We are apt to be distracted from the foregoing explanation
by Du. quelen, to pine away, to languish, to fade. 'T gewas
queelt op het veld, the herb fades in the field. De hoochste
van het volck des lants quelen: sink, are overcome.-Bible
in Weiland. Devonshire queal, to faint away; squeal, in-
firm, weak. But the resemblance is purely accidental, the
latter forms being from the pipy tones of a sick person. Pol.
kwilic, to pule, wail, whine, lament, Du. quelen, quenen,
gemere, languere, languore tabescere.-Kil.
Quaint. Fr. coint, neat, fine, dainty, trim.-Cot. Bret.
koant, pretty. It. contezza, information, advertisement,
knowledge of, familiarity, acquaintance, also quaintness,
neatness, spruceness; contigie, curious ornaments, quaint
trimmings used of women rather for grace and show than for
use.-Fl. Prov. conte, cointe, coinde, conge, gracious, agree-
able, pretty; coindansa, acquaintance, agreeableness; coin-