I see this word, which is Spanish, through Latin, meaning quake with fear, used to describe earthquakes, which are geographic shakes. It seems to me it's incorrectly used in this context. What's shaking with this usage?

While I can see the connection, it is strange that it's such a jump in meaning.

Interestingly, in Wikipedia and the Etymology Dictionary, the word "tremblor" exists as an alternative. Does that exist because someone misspelled it, do you think?

It seems to me it's incorrectly used in this context.

In Spanish, it can means 'shuddering, shaking (from fear)' or 'earthquake'. In English quake, as a noun or verb, also has similar meanings. It doesn't seem a great stretch to go from 'trembling with fear' to 'the earth trembles, and I'm afraid'. The Latin word is tremulus whence English tremulous.

[Corrected typo. Thanks, Pearce.]

This message has been edited. Last edited by: zmježd,

quote:

Originally posted by zmjezhd:
The Latin word is tremulus whence English tremulus.

Possibly a typo, ZMJ, but you can't have English tremulus. I think tremulous is what you meant.

quote:

think tremulous is what you meant.

zmj said in his last sentence:
The Latin word is tremulus whence English tremulous.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: arnie,

Look a little lower in the post, I fixed the typo, arnie.

Ah!

So how did we get from Latin tremulus to English temblor?

I can understand the b-sound slipping in for ease of pronunciation. But how did the r get dropped?

So how did we get from Latin tremulus to English temblor?

I can understand the b-sound slipping in for ease of pronunciation. But how did the r get dropped?

In earlier types of Spanish (maybe in Late Latin, the unstressed u would have been dropped giving us tremlo (the finally s was being dropped early in Late Latin). The -ml- could have yielded -mbl-, and finally the r could have been dropped by dissimulation. I'd really have to consult some reference books (a good Romance or Spanish etymological dictionary) in my library, but that'll take a while as I'm at work. Also, note sure about the final -r, but it's probably a nominal agentive suffix.

Perhaps that's why, as I noted above, that 2 sources have "tremblor."