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Origin and history of quelch

quelch(v.)

1650s, a shortening of squelch, perhaps influenced by quench. Related: Quelched; quelching.

also from 1650s

Entries linking to quelch

quench(v.)

Middle English quenchen, "to extinguish, put out" (heat, light, fire, also of desire, hunger, thirst), also figurative, "to bring to naught, eliminate, render ineffectual" (c. 1200), Old English acwencan "to quench" (of fire, light), from Proto-Germanic *kwenkjanan, probably a causative form from the source of Old English cwincan "to go out, be extinguished," Old Frisian kwinka.

No certain cognates outside Germanic; perhaps a substratum word. Especially "to cool or extinguish by means of cold water," hence "to drench in water" (late 15c.). Related: Quenched; quenching.

squelch(v.)

1620s, "to fall, drop, or stomp (on something soft) with crushing force," possibly suggestive of the sound made. The figurative sense of "suppress completely" is recorded by 1864. Related: Squelched; squelching.

squash(v.)

"to crush, squeeze," early 14c., squachen, from Old French esquacher, variant of esquasser, escasser, escachier "to crush, shatter, destroy, break," from Vulgar Latin *exquassare, from Latin ex "out" (see ex-) + quassare "to shatter" (see quash "to crush").

Perhaps it has been partly conformed to quash (v.). "In some senses, however, perhaps partly or mainly of imitative origin" [OED]. English squ- words of more or less imitative origin sometimes have echoes in qu- : squelch/quelch, quag and obsolete squagen "make a stain or smudge" (c. 1500). Related: Squashed; squashing.

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