quiver

quiver · noun¹

1. German · semantic loan fromKöcher
2. Proto-Mongolic · derived from*kökexür“leather vessel for liquids”
3. Proto-West Germanic · derived from*kokar“container”
4. Anglo-Norman · derived fromquivre
5. Middle English · inherited fromquiver
6. English todayquiver

From Middle English quiver, from Anglo-Norman quivre, from Old Dutch cocare (source of Dutch koker, and cognate to Old English cocer (“quiver, case”)), from Proto-West Germanic *kokar (“container”), said to be from Hunnic, possibly from Proto-Mongolic *kökexür (“leather vessel for liquids”); see there for more. Replaced early modern cocker, the inherited reflex of that West Germanic word. The mathematical sense originated as German Köcher in a 1972 paper by Pierre Gabriel; it was likely chosen because a quiver contains arrows, while a digraph contains directed edges (also called "arrows").

quiver · adjective²

1. Old English · inherited from*cwifer
2. Middle English · inherited fromquiver
3. English todayquiver

From Middle English quiver, cwiver, from Old English *cwifer, probably related to cwic (“alive”).

quiver · verb, noun³

1. Middle English · derived fromquiveren
2. English todayquiver

From Middle English quiveren, probably from the adjective.

Quiver · proper noun⁴

1. French · derived fromCuivre
2. English todayQuiver

Corruption of the French Cuivre, from cuivre (“copper”).

Words from the same roots