- quotation (n.)
- mid-15c., "numbering," later (1530s) "marginal notation," from Medieval Latin quotationem (nominative quotatio), from quotare "to number" (see quote). Meaning "passage quoted" is from 1680s. Quotation marks attested by 1777.
- quote (v.)
- late 14c., "to mark (a book) with chapter numbers or marginal references," from Old French coter, from Medieval Latin quotare "distinguish by numbers, number chapters," from Latin quotus "which, what number (in sequence)," from quot "how many," related to quis "who" (see who).
The sense development is via "to give as a reference, to cite as an authority" to "to copy out exact words" (1670s). The business sense of "to state the price of a commodity" (1866) revives the etymological meaning. Related: Quoted; quoting. - quote (n.)
- "quotation," 1885, from quote (v.).
- quoth (v.)
- Old English cwæð, past tense of cweðan "to say, speak, name, call" (cf. Old Saxon quethan, Old Norse kveða, Old Frisian quetha, Old High German quedan, Gothic qiþan). Cf. archaic quotha "said he" (1510s) for Old English cwæðe ge "think you?"
- quotidian (adj.)
- mid-14c., "everyday, daily," from Latin quotidianus "daily," from Latin quotus "how many, which in order or number" + dies "day" (see diurnal).
- quotient (n.)
- early 15c., from Latin quotiens "how many times," from quot "how many," related to quis "who" (see who). The Latin adverb quotiens was mistaken in Middle English for a present participle in -ens.
- Quran (n.)
- 1876, variant spelling (preferred by scholars) of Koran (q.v.), from Arabic qur'an, literally "book, reading, recitation," from qara'a "to read." Related: Quranic.
- qwerty
- 1929, from the first six keys on a standard typewriter keyboard, read as though text, from top left. Mechanical typewriter patented 1867; the QWERTY layout itself is said to date to 1887; it is not meant to slow down typists, but to separate the letters in common digraphs (-sh-, -ck-, etc.) to reduce jamming of swing-arms in old-style machines. It actually speeds typing by requiring alternate-hand strokes, which is one reason why the alternative DVORAK keyboard is not appreciably faster. Remnants of the original alphabetic typewriter keyboard remain in the second row of letter keys: FGH-JKL. The French standard was AZERTY; in Germany, QWERTZ; in Italy, QZERTY.