qualm

Origin: Perhaps from , death, sickness, plague, which is from , ūtcualm , from , from , whence also quell. Although the sense development is possible, this has the problem that there are no attestations in intermediate senses before the appearance of "pang of apprehension, etc." in the 16th century. The alternative etymology is from or earlier “daze, stupefaction”, which is from the root of . The sense “feeling of faintness” is from 1530; “uneasiness, doubt” from 1553; “scruple of conscience” from 1649. Origin information sourced from Wiktionary contributors (CC BY-SA 4.0).