Etymology: Probably cognate with Middle Low German quabbe marsh, swamp, bog (also quobbe , quebbe ); further etymology uncertain: perhaps < the same Indo-European base as quab n.² (perhaps compare quag n. and discussion at quagmire n.). An Old English form *cwabba is implied by the evidence of quot. a1425. Compare post-classical Latin quabba (1185 in a British source).Attested earlier in place names (and surnames derived from them), as la Qvabbe (1198; now Quob, Hampshire), Galfridi de Quabbe (1209), Quabbalke (1285; now Quabrook, Sussex), Le Quabbe (c1300; now Quobwell Farm, Wiltshire), etc.

Etymology: < either early modern Dutch quabbe toad, frog, any of certain kinds of fish, also dewlap (Middle Dutch quappe ; Dutch kwab , kwabbe ) or Middle Low German quappe, quabbe burbot (German regional (Low German) quabb ), both cognate with Old Saxon quappa , Old High German quappa , kape (Middle High German quape , quappe , German Quappe burbot, tadpole), and also (perhaps < Middle Low German) Old Swedish qvappa (Swedish kvabba ), Old Danish quab (Danish kvabbe ), perhaps ultimately < an Indo-European base of expressive origin (with the underlying sense ‘something slimy, flabby, or quivering’) also represented by Old Prussian gabawo toad, Old Church Slavonic žaba frog, Russian žaba toad; perhaps further related to quab n.¹, quop v., and the Germanic parallels cited at those entries. Compare quap n. and perhaps cob n.¹ 3.