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Origin and history of temblor

temblor(n.)

"earthquake," 1876, in southwestern U.S., from American Spanish temblor "earthquake," from Spanish temblor, literally "a trembling," from temblar "to tremble," from Vulgar Latin *tremulare "to tremble, shiver, quake" (see tremble (v.)). Often italicized through 19c.

also from 1876

Entries linking to temblor

tremble(v.)

mid-14c., tremblen, of persons, "quake or shake from fear, cold, emotion, etc.," from Old French trembler "tremble, fear" (11c.), from Medieval Latin tremulare "tremble, fear, hesitate" (source also of Italian tremolare, Spanish temblar), from Latin tremulus "trembling, shaking, quaking," from tremere "to tremble, shiver, quake" (from PIE *trem- "to tremble").

Hence, figuratively, "be in doubt or suspense." A native word for "to tremble" was Old English bifian. Related: Trembled; trembling. The noun, "act or state of trembling," is recorded from c. 1600.

Also reconstructed to be from the PIE root are Greek tremein "to shiver, tremble, to quake, to fear," Lithuanian tremiu, tremti "to chase away," Old Church Slavonic treso "to shake," Gothic þramstei "grasshopper."

tremblor(n.)

"earthquake," 1913, an American English alteration of temblor, by influence of trembler, agent noun of tremble (v.).

Trembler is attested from 1550s as "one who trembles" (especially from fear); it also was a name applied 17c. to radical Protestant sects (compare Quaker) and by 1832 to electric eels.

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    Trends of temblor

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

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    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.
    shock
    1560s, "violent encounter of armed forces or a pair of warriors," a military term, from French choc "violent attack," from Old French choquer "strike against," probably from Frankish, from a Proto-Germanic imitative base (compare Middle Dutch schokken "to push, jolt," Old High Ge
    stamp
    Middle English stampen "pound, mash, beat, crush," from Old English stempan "to pound, crush, or bruise in or as in a mortar," from Proto-Germanic *stamp- (source also of Old Norse stappa, Danish stampe, Middle Dutch stampen, Old High German stampfon, German stampfen "to stamp wi
    milk
    "opaque white fluid secreted by mammary glands of female mammals, suited to the nourishment of their young," Middle English milk, from Old English meoluc (West Saxon), milc (Anglian), from Proto-Germanic *meluk- "milk" (source also of Old Norse mjolk, Old Frisian melok, Old Saxon
    compromise
    early 15c., "a joint promise to abide by an arbiter's decision," from Old French compromis (13c.), from Late Latin compromissus, past participle of compromittere "to make a mutual promise" (to abide by the arbiter's decision), from com "with, together" (see com-) + promittere "to
    absolute
    late 14c., "unrestricted, free from limitation; complete, perfect, free from imperfection;" also "not relative to something else" (mid-15c.), from Latin absolutus, past participle of absolvere "to set free, acquit; complete, bring to an end; make separate," from ab "off, away fro
    cleave
    "to split, part or divide by force," Old English cleofan, cleven, cliven "to split, separate" (class II strong verb, past tense cleaf, past participle clofen), from Proto-Germanic *kleuban (source also of Old Saxon klioban, Old Norse kljufa, Danish klöve, Dutch kloven, Old High G
    science
    mid-14c., "state or fact of knowing; what is known, knowledge (of something) acquired by study; information;" also "assurance of knowledge, certitude, certainty," from Old French science "knowledge, learning, application; corpus of human knowledge" (12c.), from Latin scientia "kn
    perspicacity
    "state or character of being perspicacious; keenness of sight, clearness of understanding," 1540s, from French perspicacité (15c.) and directly from Late Latin perspicacitas "sharp-sightedness, discernment," from Latin perspicax "sharp-sighted, having the power of seeing through,
    arithmetic
    "art of computation, the most elementary branch of mathematics," mid-13c., arsmetike, from Old French arsmetique (12c.), from Latin arithmetica, from Greek arithmetikē (tekhnē) "(the) counting (art)," fem. of arithmetikos "of or for reckoning, arithmetical," from arithmos "number

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