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Origin and history of quaver

quaver(v.)

early 15c., quaveren, "to vibrate, tremble, have a tremulous motion," probably a frequentative of cwavien "to tremble, shake, be afraid" (early 13c.), which probably is related to Low German quabbeln "tremble," and possibly of imitative origin. With Germanic verbal suffix indicating repeated or diminutive action (see -er (4)). The meaning "sing in trills or quavers, sing with a tremulous tone" is recorded by 1530s. Related: Quavered; quavering.

quaver(n.)

1560s, in music, "an eighth-note," from quaver (v.). Sense of "a shake or trill in singing" is from 1610s; meaning "a tremble in the voice" is by 1748.

also from 1560s

Entries linking to quaver

demisemiquaver(n.)

"musical note half the value of a semiquaver, 32nd note," 1706; see demi- + semi- + quaver (n.). A semiquaver (also demiquaver) was a 16th note.

hemidemisemiquaver(n.)

"sixty-fourth note" in music, 1846, from hemi- + demi- + semi- + quaver (n.).

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Trends of quaver

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

More to explore

quake
Middle English quaken, from Old English cwacian "quake (of the earth), tremble, shudder (of persons, from cold, emotion, fear, fever, etc.), chatter (of teeth)," related to cweccan "to shake, swing, move, vibrate," words of unknown origin with no certain cognates outside English.
quiver
"to tremble, shake tremulously, shudder," late 15c., perhaps imitative, or possibly an alteration of quaveren (see quaver), or from quiver (adj.) "active, agile, lively, brisk" (mid-13c.), from Old English cwifer- (in cwiferlice "zealously"), which is perhaps related to cwic "ali
waver
late 13c., weyveren, "to show indecision," probably related to Old English wæfre "restless, wavering," from Proto-Germanic *wæbraz (source also of Middle High German wabern "to waver," Old Norse vafra "to hover about"), a frequentative form from the root of wave (v.), with German
sound
"noise, what is heard, sensation produced through the ear," late 13c., soun, from Old French son "sound, musical note, voice," from Latin sonus "sound, a noise," from PIE *swon-o-, from root *swen- "to sound." The unetymological -d was established c. 1350-1550 (see D). Sound-boar
note
c. 1200, noten, "observe, take mental note of, mark carefully," from Old French noter "indicate, designate; take note of, write down," from Latin notare "to mark, note, make a note," from nota "mark, sign, note, character, letter" (see note (n.)). Sense of "mention separately or
tone
mid-14c., "musical sound or note," from Old French ton "musical sound, speech, words" (13c.) and directly from Latin tonus "a sound, tone, accent," literally "stretching" (in Medieval Latin, a term peculiar to music), from Greek tonos "vocal pitch, raising of voice, accent, key i
warble
late 14c., from Old North French werbler "to sing with trills and quavers" (Old French guerbloiier), from Frankish *werbilon (cognate with Old High German wirbil "whirlwind," German Wirbel "whirl, whirlpool, tuning peg, vertebra," Middle Dutch wervelen "to turn, whirl"); see whir
sign
early 13c., signe, "gesture or motion of the hand," especially one meant to express thought or convey an idea, from Old French signe "sign, mark," from Latin signum "identifying mark, token, indication, symbol; proof; military standard, ensign; a signal, an omen; sign in the heav
sing
Middle English singen, from Old English singan "to chant, sing," especially in joy or merriment; "celebrate, or tell in song" (class III strong verb; past tense sang, past participle sungen), from Proto-Germanic *sengwan (source also of Old Saxon singan, Old Frisian sionga, Middl
voice
late 13c., "sound made by the human mouth," from Old French voiz "voice, speech; word, saying, rumor, report" (Modern French voix), from Latin vocem (nominative vox) "voice, sound, utterance, cry, call, speech, sentence, language, word" (source also of Italian voce, Spanish voz),

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