- quota (n.)
- 1660s, from Medieval Latin quota, from Latin quota pars "how large a part," from quota, fem. singular of quotus "which, what number (in sequence);" see quote (v.). Earliest reference is to contributions of soldiers or supplies levied from a town or district; immigration sense is from 1921.
- quotable (adj.)
- 1804, from quote (v.) + -able. Related: Quotably.
- quotation (n.)
- mid-15c., "numbering," later (1530s) "marginal notation," noun of action from quote (v.) or else from Medieval Latin quotationem (nominative quotatio), noun of action from past participle stem of quotare "to number." Meaning "an act of quoting" is from 1640s; that of "passage quoted" is from 1680s. Quotation marks attested by 1777.
- quote (v.)
- late 14c., coten, "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 in order? what number (in sequence)?," from quot "how many," from PIE *kwo-ti-, from pronominal root *kwo- (see who).
The sense development is via "to give as a reference, to cite as an authority" (1570s) to "to copy out or repeat exact words" (1670s). Modern spelling with qu- is from early 15c. The business sense of "to state the price of a commodity" (1866) revives the etymological meaning. Related: Quoted; quoting.
- quote (n.)
- "a quotation," 1885, from quote (v.). From c. 1600 as "a marginal reference." Quotes for "quotation marks" is from 1869.
- quoth (v.)
- Old English cwæð, third person singular past tense of cweðan "to say, speak; name, call; declare, proclaim" (Middle English quethan), from Proto-Germanic *kwithan (source also of Old Saxon quethan, Old Norse kveða, Old Frisian quetha, Old High German quedan, Gothic qiþan), from PIE root *gwet- "to say, speak" (see bequeath). Compare also archaic quotha "said he" (1510s) for Old English cwæðe ge "think you?"
- quotidian (adj.)
- mid-14c., "everyday, daily," from Old French cotidian (Modern French quotidien), from Latin quotidianus "daily," from Latin quotus "how many? which in order or number?" (see quote (v.)) + dies "day" (see diurnal). Meaning "ordinary, commonplace, trivial" is from mid-15c.
- quotient (n.)
- "number of times one quantity is contained in another," mid-15c., from Latin quotiens "how often? how many times?; as often as," pronominal adverb of time, from quot "how many?" (see quote (v.)). 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, dominant in U.S. from early 20c.; 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 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.
