quarrel

英文词源

quarrel

quarrel: English has two words quarrel, one of them now little more than a historical memory. Quarrel ‘argument’ [14] goes back via Old French querele to Latin querēla, a derivative of querī ‘complain’. Also based on querī was querulus ‘complaining’, from which English gets querulous [15]. Quarrel ‘crossbow arrow’ [13] comes via Old French quarel from Vulgar Latin *quadrellus, a diminutive form of late Latin quadrus ‘square’ (the quarrel had a ‘square’ head). And quadrus was based on the stem quadr- ‘four’, source of English quadrangle, quadrant, quadruped, etc.
=> querulous; quarter

quarrel (n.1)

"angry dispute," mid-14c., originally "ground for complaint," from Old French querele "matter, concern, business; dispute, controversy" (Modern French querelle), from Latin querella "complaint, accusation; lamentation," from queri "to complain, lament." Replaced Old English sacan. Sense of "contention between persons" is from 1570s.

quarrel (n.2)

"square-headed bolt for a crossbow," mid-13c., from Old French quarel, carrel "bolt, arrow," from Vulgar Latin *quadrellus, diminutive of Late Latin quadrus (adj.) "square," related to quattuor "four" (see four). Now-archaic sense of "square or diamond-shaped plane of glass" first recorded mid-15c.

quarrel (v.)

late 14c., "to raise an objection;" 1520s as "to contend violently, to fall out," from quarrel (n.1) and in part from Old French quereler (Modern French quereller). Related: Quarrelled; quarrelling.