- 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.
