Middle English "quek"

[Baker, John]

        You've got 14th century for quack as a verb, so you must have had something from this period.  In any case, it does appear that quack is not suspiciously new - unlike oink and, especially, ribbet, which really seems to have come from nowhere.  I don't recall ever hearing ribbet as a child in the sixties, but it was dominant by the late seventies.

John Baker


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]On Behalf
Of Joanne M. Despres
Sent: Wednesday, March 09, 2005 3:43 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Middle English "quek"


Okay, here's the cite:

The goos, the cokkow, and the doke also
So cryede, "Kek kek! Kokkow! quek quek!" hye,
That thourgh myne eres the noyse wente tho.

Parliament of Fowls 498-500

Hm, looks like we missed it, too -- our date for "quack" is 1798.

Joanne