quake (v.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict[quake 词源字典]
Old English cwacian "quake, tremble, chatter (of teeth)," related to cweccan "to shake, swing, move, vibrate," of unknown origin with no certain cognates outside English. Perhaps somehow imitative. In reference to earth tremors, probably by c. 1200. Related: Quaked; quaking.[quake etymology, quake origin, 英语词源]
quake (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
early 14c., "a trembling in fear," from quake (v.). Rare except in combinations. Now usually as a shortening of earthquake, in which use it is attested from 1640s. Old English had the verbal noun cwacung "shaking, trembling."
Quaker (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
1651, said to have been applied to them in 1650 by Justice Bennett at Derby, from George Fox's admonition to his followers to "tremble at the Word of the Lord;" but the word was used earlier of foreign sects given to fits of shaking during religious fervor, and that is likely the source here. Either way, it never was an official name of the Religious Society of Friends. The word in a literal sense is attested from early 15c., an agent noun from quake (v.).
There is not a word in the Scripture, to put David's condition into rime and meeter: sometimes he quaked and trembled, and lay roaring all the day long, that he watered his bed with his tears: and how can you sing these conditions (but dishonour the Lord) and say all your bones quake, your flesh trembled, and that you water your bed with your tears? when you live in pride and haughtiness, and pleasure, and wantonness;" etc. ["A Brief Discovery of a threefold estate of Antichrist Now Extant in the world, etc.," an early Quaker work, London, 1653]
Quaker gun (1809, American English) was a log painted black and propped up to look from a distance like a cannon, so called for the sect's noted pacifism. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, has been known as the Quaker City since at least 1824. Related: Quakerish; Quakeress ("a female Quaker"); Quakerism.
quale (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
"death, destruction," Old English cwalu, cognate with Old Norse kval "torment, torture," from a variant of the root of quell.
qualification (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
1540s, "restriction, modification," from Middle French qualification and directly from Medieval Latin qualificationem (nominative qualificatio), noun of action from past participle stem of qualificare (see qualify). Meaning "accomplishment that qualifies someone to do something" is from 1660s; that of "necessary precondition" is from 1723. Related: Qualifications.
qualifier (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
1560s, agent noun from qualify. Grammatical sense is from 1580s.
qualify (v.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
mid-15c., "to invest with a quality," from Middle French qualifier (15c.) and directly from Medieval Latin qualificare "attribute a quality to; make of a certain quality," from Latin qualis "of what sort?," correlative pronominal adjective (see quality) + facere "to make" (see factitious). Meaning "to limit, modify" is from 1530s. Sense of "be fit for a job" first appeared 1580s. Related: Qualified; qualifying.
qualitative (adj.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
early 15c., "that produces a (physical) quality," from Medieval Latin qualitativus "relating to quality," from stem of Latin qualitas "a quality, property, nature" (see quality). Meaning "concerned with quality" is from c. 1600 in English, from French qualitatif or Medieval Latin qualitativus. Related: Qualitatively.
quality (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
c. 1300, "temperament, character, disposition," from Old French qualite "quality, nature, characteristic" (12c., Modern French qualité), from Latin qualitatem (nominative qualitas) "a quality, property; nature, state, condition" (said [Tucker, etc.] to have been coined by Cicero to translate Greek poiotes), from qualis "what kind of a," from PIE pronominal base *kwo- (see who). Meaning "degree of goodness" is late 14c. Meaning "social rank, position" is c. 1400. Noun phrase quality time first recorded 1977. Quality of life is from 1943. Quality control first attested 1935.
qualm (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
Old English cwealm (West Saxon) "death, murder, slaughter; disaster; plague; torment," utcualm (Anglian) "utter destruction," probably related to cwellan "to kill, murder, execute," cwelan "to die" (see quell). Sense softened to "feeling of faintness" 1520s; figurative meaning "uneasiness, doubt" is from 1550s; that of "scruple of conscience" is 1640s.

Evidence of a direct path from the Old English to the modern senses is wanting, but it is plausible, via the notion of "fit of sickness." The other suggested etymology, less satisfying, is to take the "fit of uneasiness" sense from Dutch kwalm "steam, vapor, mist" (cognate with German Qualm "smoke, vapor, stupor"), which also might be ultimately from the same Germanic root as quell.
qualms (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
see qualm.
quandary (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
"state of perplexity," 1570s, of unknown origin, perhaps a quasi-Latinism based on Latin quando "when? at what time?; at the time that, inasmuch," pronominal adverb of time, related to qui "who" (see who). Originally accented on the second syllable.
quango (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
1973, acronym for quasi-non-governmental organization (a descriptive phrase itself attested from 1967). Related: Quangocracy; quangocrat.
quantifiable (adj.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
1868, from quantify + -able. Related: Quantifiably.
quantification (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
1850, noun of action from quantify.
quantify (v.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
1840, from Medieval Latin quantificare, from Latin quantus "as much," correlative pronominal adjective (see quantity) + facere "to make" (see factitious). Literal sense of "determine the quantity of, measure" is from 1878. Related: Quantified; quantifying.
quantitation (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
1952, from quantity + -ation. Related: Quantitate.
quantitative (adj.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
1580s, "having quantity," from Medieval Latin quantitativus, from stem of Latin quantitas (see quantity). Meaning "measurable" is from 1650s. Related: Quantitatively.
quantitive (adj.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
1650s, from quantity + -ive. Related: Quantitively.
quantity (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
early 14c., from Old French quantite, cantite (12c., Modern French quantité) and directly from Latin quantitatem (nominative quantitas) "relative greatness or extent," coined as a loan-translation of Greek posotes (from posos "how great? how much?") from Latin quantus "of what size? how much? how great? what amount?," correlative pronominal adjective, related to qui "who" (see who). Latin quantitatem also is the source of Italian quantita, Spanish cantidad, Danish and Swedish kvantitet, German quantitat.