quill

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English quil, also quille,^[2][3][4][5] of uncertain origin.^[6][7][5][8] The OED takes it as probably a Germanic word cognate with Low German quiele and kīl and Middle High German kīl (“shaft of a feather”), now German Kiel, which are themselves of unknown origin.^[6][3][9] The Shorter Oxford, the ODE and the Concise Oxford think it probably borrowed from Middle Low German quiele,^[10][11][12] and the MED marks a Middle Low German source as doubtful.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The hollow shaft of a feather, or a feather: before 1425, in MS Hunterian 95.^[6] Barnhart dates quille to probably before 1425,^[5] and Etymonline to about 1400, as a piece of reed, a stalk of cane or the hollow stem of a feather, used as a tube to drain liquid.^[13]

Semantic evolution

The early senses were all hollow tubes: the shaft of a feather, a small pipe such as a water conduit (about 1433),^[6][2] a hollow plant stem or reed (1440, in the Promptorium Parvulorum),^[6][14] and a piece of reed on which yarn is wound, a bobbin (about 1450).^[6] The writing pen made from a quill feather is recorded from 1552, in Huloet's dictionary, which also has the quill plectrum of a keyboard instrument;^[6][5] quill-pen is attested from 1828, after steel nibs had come in.^[13] The porcupine's spines were called quills from 1590, in Marlowe;^[6] Barnhart has 1602 and Etymonline about 1600.^[5][13] Johnson (1755) put first the strong wing feather "of which pens are made", then the pen itself.^[15] The verb is first recorded in 1607, of forming fabric into small rounded folds,^[6] and later meant to write with a quill (1768) and to wind yarn on a quill (1825).^[6] In American English a quill was also a straw for sniffing drugs (1916) and the whistle of a steam locomotive (1940),^[6][16] and Scots had to wet one's quill, to have a drink.^[17]

Timeline

• before 1425 – the hollow shaft of a feather; a feather.^[6]
• c. 1433 – a small pipe or tube.^[6][2]
• 1440 – a hollow plant stem or reed (obsolete by 1801).^[6]
• c. 1450 – a bobbin on which yarn is wound.^[6]
• 1552 – a pen made from a feather; a quill plectrum.^[6][5]
• 1567 – a musical pipe.^[6]
• 1590 – a spine of a porcupine.^[6] Barnhart dates this sense to 1602.^[5]
• 1607 – verb, to form fabric into rounded folds.^[6]
• 1916 – US, a straw or tube through which drugs are sniffed.^[6][16]

Meanings

Noun

1. Any of the large stiff feathers of a bird's wing or tail.^[8][12][6]
2. The hollow central shaft of a feather, especially the lower part without barbs; the calamus.^[8][12][6]
3. A pen made from such a feather: The clerk sharpened his quill before copying the deed.^[8][12][6]
4. Any of the stiff hollow spines of a porcupine or hedgehog.^[8][12][6]
5. A plectrum, formerly of quill, that plucks a string of a harpsichord.^[8][6]
6. A bobbin or spool on which yarn is wound for weaving.^[4][8][6]
7. A hollow shaft that surrounds another shaft in a machine.^[4]
8. A small roll of dried bark, especially of cinnamon.^[8]
9. A hollow stem or reed used as a musical pipe; a panpipe.^[4][6]
10. (US slang) A folded matchbook cover or straw through which a drug is sniffed.^[16][6]
11. (obsolete, 1440–1801) A hollow plant stem or reed.^[6][10][2]

Verb

1. To form fabric into small rounded folds or ridges.^[4][12][6]
2. To wind thread or yarn on a quill.^[4][6]
3. To pierce with quills.^[4]

Word family

• quill-like
• quillback
• quiller
• quillfish
• quillwort

Usage notes

The obsolete phrase in the quill, in concert, together (before 1616 to 1734, first in Shakespeare's 2 Henry VI), has a separate origin: the OED derives it from an unrecorded Middle French noun formed from cueillir (“to gather”).^[6] The American phrase the pure quill, the genuine thing, is of uncertain origin; the explanations proposed all involve a quill or similar tube holding something precious.^[6][16]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
4. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
10. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ a b c d e f Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
14. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
16. ^ a b c d Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
17. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)