Etymology: Cognate with Old Saxon qualm death (especially of a violent nature), murder, Old High German qualm , quhalm torment, torture, (rare) downfall, perishing < an ablaut variant of the Germanic base of quele v. Compare quell n.¹, quelling n., and also quell v.¹ Compare also later qualm n.³, and see discussion at that entry.In form cwylm perhaps influenced by Old English cwylman quelm v.

Etymology: Apparently imitative.German (now regional) Galm sound, noise, uproar (Middle High German galm ; < gellen yell v. + -m, suffix forming nouns from verbs) is unrelated.

Etymology: Origin uncertain. Perhaps < early modern German qualm (German regional (southern) Qualm ) swoon, faint, half-conscious or unconscious state (16th cent.), of uncertain origin. Compare Danish kvalm , †qvalm (now rare) nausea, fit of sickness (a1719), kvalme nausea, sickness, formerly also the vapours believed to cause such a feeling (18th cent.; this is now the usual word, and probably shows an inferred singular < the plural of kvalm ), Swedish kvalm , †qvalm (now rare) nausea, sickness, indisposition (c1645), pang, distress (late 18th cent.): it is possible that, in spite of their late attestation, these may be cognates of the Germanic words cited at qualm n.¹; they appear to have merged at an early date with an etymologically distinct word meaning roughly ‘smoke’ (see note), and both groups of senses are treated as one word in dictionaries of the Scandinavian languages, which makes the history of the Danish and Swedish words difficult to trace. However, it is probably more likely that German regional Qualm ‘swoon, faint, etc.’ developed out of Middle High German twalm dwalm n. via the regular change of initial tw to qu which is exhibited by quer (see thwart adv.), Quark quark n.¹, and several other German words. It is less likely (for chronological reasons) to be directly related to Middle High German qualm anguish (rare), which is usually considered to be the reflex of Old High German qualm qualm n.¹ The exact relationship with earlier qualm n.¹ is unclear. Although Old English cwealm qualm n.¹ also had the sense ‘torment, pain, injury’ (see Dict. Old Eng. s.v.), and some instances of qualm n.³ in 16th- or 17th-cent. use could be taken in sense ‘pain’, ‘pang’ (see sense 1), evidence for a direct connection of the two words is lacking, and on chronological grounds it is unlikely that there is continuity between the two words. German Qualm noxious vapour or miasma, (now usually) dense smoke (16th cent.) is a borrowing < Middle Low German qualm fog, vapour, smoke, stirred-up dust, as also are Danish kvalm , †qvalm (now regional) dense irritating smoke or vapour, stuffy unhealthy air (18th cent.), (now rare) kvalme stuffy unhealthy air (18th cent.) and Swedish kvalm , †qvalm steam, vapour, miasma, dense smoke (1626; also figurative; now obsolete), (now usually) stuffy unhealthy air (late 17th cent.). The Middle Low German word is of uncertain and disputed origin; it is usually explained as a deverbal formation < quellen to well up, to gush forth (see quell v.²), which is formally and semantically plausible; however, it is possible that both the Middle Low German and the German words denoting ‘smoke’ and similar senses could have developed from Middle Low German dwalm and Middle High German twalm respectively (for both, see dwalm n.) via the abovementioned change of tw to qu. N.E.D. (1908) also records a variant pronunciation (kwǭm) /kwɔːm/ (which is given as the primary pronunciation in editions of D. Jones Eng. Pronouncing Dict. up to and including the 12th (1963)); in this and the American English variant pronunciation /kwɔ(l)m/, the rounded vowel may result from influence of the preceding labial, though direct development of late Middle English au is equally possible (see E. J. Dobson Eng. Pronunc. 1500–1700 (ed 2., 1968) II. §195); a third early development, with the equivalent of late Middle English ā, is shown by E. Coles Compl. Eng. Schoolmaster (1674) and by such spellings as qua(i)me.

Etymology: Apparently a variant of walm n., perhaps originating as an inverse spelling (see discussion at Q n.), or perhaps after early modern German qualm vapour, steam, dense smoke (see qualm n.³). Compare qualm v.²The corresponding early modern German noun in quot. 1599 is a variant of wall boiling, bout of boiling (now regional; Middle High German wal ; < wallen to boil, to well up: see wall v.¹).

Etymology: < qualm n.³ Compare Middle High German twalmen to anaesthetize (German (now regional: Saxony) kalmen to drowse, to be half asleep), Danish kvalme , †qvalme to swoon, to have a fainting fit (a1719; in this sense impersonal), to have a qualm (second half of the 18th cent.), Swedish kvalma to induce a qualm in (a person), to nauseate (a person) (early 19th cent.). With sense 1 compare qualming n.

Etymology: Apparently a variant of walm v., perhaps influenced by qualm n.⁴ (see discussion at that entry), which occurs in an earlier passage in the same source. N.E.D. (1902) adduces German qualmen ‘to emit smoke’ as a model, but this is unlikely, as the German verb is first attested later (mid 17th cent.) and does not agree closely in sense.