Literary history question

[paulw]

Here's one for you to tease out. Who can tell me the origins of the words:

1.) QUIZ

and

2.) CABAL

P.

[Benjamin]

QUIZ
Although we do not know the origin of the word quiz, just as we may not know the answers to all the questions on a quiz, we can say that its first recorded sense has to do with people, not tests. The term, first recorded in 1782, meant “an odd or eccentric person.” From the noun in this sense came a verb meaning “to make sport or fun of” and “to regard mockingly.” In English dialects and probably in American English the verb quiz acquired senses relating to interrogation and questioning. This presumably occurred because quiz was associated with question, inquisitive, or perhaps the English dialect verb quiset, “to question” (probably itself short for obsolete inquisite, “to investigate”). From this new area of meaning came the noun and verb senses all too familiar to students. The second recorded instance of the noun sense occurs in the writings of no less an educator than William James, who in a December 26, 1867, letter proffers the hope that “perhaps giving ‘quizzes’ in anatomy and physiology . . . may help along.”


CABAL
The history of cabal reveals how a word can be transferred from one sphere of activity to another while retaining only a tenuous connection with its past. Ultimately from Hebrew but transmitted to English probably by way of Medieval Latin and French, cabal is first recorded in English in 1616 in the sense “cabala.” Cabala was the name for the Hebrew oral tradition transmitted by Moses and also the name for a Jewish religious philosophy based on an esoteric interpretation of the Hebrew Scriptures. The notion “esoteric” is central to the development of this word in English, for cabal, probably following the sense development in French, came to mean “a tradition, special interpretation, or secret,” “a private intrigue” (first recorded in 1646-1647), and “a small body of intriguers” (first recorded in 1660). It is probably not coincidental that cabal is found with these latter meanings during the mid-17th century, that time of plots and counterplots by Royalists and Parliamentarians. The word gained a false etymology when it was noticed that the five most influential ministers of Charles II were named Clifford, Arlington, Buckingham, Ashley, and Lauderdale.

Great reply, Dennis. I wasn't able to find anything on the
roots of either, but I DID find some exceedingly
interesting pages in the search. The most interesting
(IMHO) is

http://shideh.jetcafe.org/dave/usenet/freedom.html

This guy says that yelling FIRE in a crowded theatre IS a
perogative of Free Speech. It is YOUR problem what to do
with it. Rather scary, in my opinion.

[paulw]

V. Good.

Quiz was the result of a bet - that a word could not be introduced into the language within a week. The gamblers posted up the word Quiz? in Dublin over the course of a weekend and by the end of that week, everyone knew the word.

Course, that may all be bollocks, but there you go. That is why history is interesting.

Cheers,

P.

Paul

What was the time frame for the bet?

[paulw]

A week, I think, but my memory on it is quite vague. I found it in an old encyclopaedia in a bookshop that I was browsing through. Nothing to back it up tho'. Interesting to see if we could find the derivation elsewhere.

Cheers,

P.