4 ms·

I never realized that "quick" means "alive" in quicklime, quicksilver. It's interesting because I now see the same pattern is used in old italian (mercury is "

I never realized that "quick" means "alive" in quicklime, quicksilver. It's interesting because I now see the same pattern is used in old italian (mercury is "mercurio" but also "argento vivo", living silver, and calcium oxide is "ossido di calcio" but also "calce viva", living lime). As far as I understand, in hungarian ("fürge ezüst" -> "lively silver") and german ("quecksilber" -> quicksilver) the same pattern exists for mercury, though I didn't find the calcium carbonate equivalent. I imagine there is some shared (alchemic?) tradition there, and I wonder what other "alive" things exist.

adwn 7y ago
> [...] german ("quecksilber" -> quicksilver) [...] In German, there's also quicklebendig – meaning "lively", "very active" – compared to lebendig, which means "alive", "living". It's slowly becoming outdated, though.
rimliu 7y ago
In Lithuanian mercury is "gyvsidabris" which is just portmanteau of "gyvasis sidabras"—literally "the living silver". Quicklime is different—"negesintos kalkes" which means "unextinguished lime".
nickloewen 7y ago
I didn't know other languages did this! In English "quicksand" seems to follow the same pattern.
sudhirj 7y ago
Seems common in old English as well, have seen bible references, though I can’t remember them now, and phrases like “the quick and the dead”.
dredmorbius 7y ago
The Online Etymological Dictionary (DDG bang !etym) is great for this sort of inquiry: https://www.etymonline.com/word/quick https://www.etymonline.com/word/quick Similarly: quicklime, quicksilver, and quicksand.
- riffraff 7y ago
  ah! "quicksand" makes much more sense to me now, in italian they are just called "mobile sands" which seemed much more reasonable :)
  - dredmorbius 7y ago
    OED has given me many "ahhh!" moments. Vodka being "little water" being a fave. https://www.etymonline.com/word/vodka https://www.etymonline.com/word/vodka
swish_bob 7y ago
Most obvious in English when you're talking about "the quick and the dead".
- zipwitch 7y ago
  It may be obvious to those of us with an interest in etymology, but when the phrase came up in my tabletop gaming group (ages 18-50), they were unanimous (save for myself) that the meaning was "the fast and the dead". I had to resort to a web search to convince them otherwise.
  - loco5niner 7y ago
    Probably due to things like the movie "The Quick and the Dead" about fast vs slow gunfighters.
    - swish_bob 7y ago
      But that's a pun! It's literally the whole point!
  - TheGallopedHigh 7y ago
    Could possibly also be a play on words...
speedbird 7y ago
Also quicken - current use is "to make faster" but older form is "to come alive"
- harimau777 7y ago
  Quickening is also the point in pregnancy when the women can first feel the infant's movements.
- riffraff 7y ago
  oh, the "quickening" in the highlander movies makes some more sense now too, thanks.
mkl 7y ago
Also "cut to the quick" = "cut to the level of living tissue": https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/to_the_quick#English https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/to_the_quick#English
the-dude 7y ago
In Dutch "kwiek" means "lively".
narag 7y ago
"Argento vivo" is identical and also obsolete in Spanish. "Cal viva" is very much alive though. In my hometown we also have "aguaviva" (living water) for jellyfish.

adwn 7y ago

> [...] german ("quecksilber" -> quicksilver) [...] In German, there's also quicklebendig – meaning "lively", "very active" – compared to lebendig, which means "alive", "living". It's slowly becoming outdated, though.

rimliu 7y ago

In Lithuanian mercury is "gyvsidabris" which is just portmanteau of "gyvasis sidabras"—literally "the living silver". Quicklime is different—"negesintos kalkes" which means "unextinguished lime".

nickloewen 7y ago

I didn't know other languages did this! In English "quicksand" seems to follow the same pattern.

sudhirj 7y ago

Seems common in old English as well, have seen bible references, though I can’t remember them now, and phrases like “the quick and the dead”.

dredmorbius 7y ago

The Online Etymological Dictionary (DDG bang !etym) is great for this sort of inquiry: https://www.etymonline.com/word/quick https://www.etymonline.com/word/quick Similarly: quicklime, quicksilver, and quicksand.

riffraff 7y ago
ah! "quicksand" makes much more sense to me now, in italian they are just called "mobile sands" which seemed much more reasonable :)
- dredmorbius 7y ago
  OED has given me many "ahhh!" moments. Vodka being "little water" being a fave. https://www.etymonline.com/word/vodka https://www.etymonline.com/word/vodka

swish_bob 7y ago

Most obvious in English when you're talking about "the quick and the dead".

zipwitch 7y ago
It may be obvious to those of us with an interest in etymology, but when the phrase came up in my tabletop gaming group (ages 18-50), they were unanimous (save for myself) that the meaning was "the fast and the dead". I had to resort to a web search to convince them otherwise.
- loco5niner 7y ago
  Probably due to things like the movie "The Quick and the Dead" about fast vs slow gunfighters.
  - swish_bob 7y ago
    But that's a pun! It's literally the whole point!
- TheGallopedHigh 7y ago
  Could possibly also be a play on words...

speedbird 7y ago

Also quicken - current use is "to make faster" but older form is "to come alive"

harimau777 7y ago
Quickening is also the point in pregnancy when the women can first feel the infant's movements.
riffraff 7y ago
oh, the "quickening" in the highlander movies makes some more sense now too, thanks.

mkl 7y ago

Also "cut to the quick" = "cut to the level of living tissue": https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/to_the_quick#English https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/to_the_quick#English

the-dude 7y ago

In Dutch "kwiek" means "lively".

narag 7y ago

"Argento vivo" is identical and also obsolete in Spanish. "Cal viva" is very much alive though. In my hometown we also have "aguaviva" (living water) for jellyfish.