## Etymology 1: Further Speculation ## A post-classical or quasi-Latin derivation of 'quandary' does seem appealing. In particular, I'm inclined toward understanding it as a closed compound from *quando* or *quanda* (both in the sense of 'at what time?') and *res*, with the closed compound used in the sense of 'a persistent state or condition of questioning "when?"'. Such a proposal is at least no more fanciful than the suggestion that *quando* was mistaken for the first person singular of a verb with the infinitive 'quandare' meaning 'to question when' or 'to question what time'. Some attestations that might seem to support those more fanciful derivations--if only the meaning corresponded--include these: [![quandaryLactanci][1]][1] (From [*De divinis institutionibus adversus gentes*][2], Lactanci, ?1478.) [![quandaryAntoninus2][3]][3] [![quandaryAntoninus1][4]][4] (From [*Summa*, Vol. 2][5], and [*Summa*, Vol. 3][6], Antoninus (Florintinus), ?1511. Note that highlighting is displaced to the line above the appearance in the latter volume.) [![quandaryPiperone][7]][7] (From [*Piperonis De omni vero officio libri septem*][8], Giovanni Antonio Piperone, ?1534.) Opposing any appeal of fanciful Latin etymologies, however, is that the earliest attested use, by Foxe in the 1563 edition of *Acts and Monuments*, is of the form 'quandarie', as shown next, in **Etymology 2**. Alongside that opposition, it is noteworthy that in 1886 Oliphant, a keen and knowledgable student of the changes from Middle English to the 'new English', accepts a derivation from *wandrethe* [proposed by Wedgwood in 1873][9], and designates *turbatio* as the Latin equivalent. A problem with positing a Latin etymology for 'quandary' is that, while a number of likely routes for such a derivation suggest themselves to the imaginative, no solid evidence can be found. For example, Foxe's original use of 'quandarie' in the 1563 edition of *Acts and Monuments* seems to have been predicated on the use of *turbatio* in the original Latin edition of *Acts* (the text of which is not available to me, but was possibly a secondary source for Oliphant). Note also that Foxe was a Latinist; the 1563 edition of *Acts* represented a revision and expansion from the original Latin version into vernacular English. Additionally, although 'quandare' does appear with some regularity in the 17th century, and occasionally in the 16th, the earlier forms from the 16th include 'quandarie' and 'quandary'. This hints that a Latin derivation may have been supposed, on speculative grounds, by later authors. ## Etymology 2: Further Evidence ## In [*The New English*](https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc2.ark:/13960/t3416w32j;view=1up;seq=572) (1886), Thomas Laurence Kington-Oliphant, a scant four years after the first (1882) publication of Skeat's *An Etymological Dictionary* (wherein a derivation of 'quandary' from *wandrethe* was also proposed), remarked on the changes in English evident in [*The Acts and Monuments of John Foxe*](http://www.johnfoxe.org/index.php), noting that Foxe's 'quandary' has come from *wandrethe* with a *k* prefixed. Oliphant apparently equates Latin *turbatio* with *wandrethe*: > The *k* is prefixed; the old *wandrethe* (turbatio) becomes *quandary*. Foxe's use of 'quandary' is dated to 1563 by Farmer and Henley in [*Slang and its analogues past and present*](https://archive.org/stream/slangitsanalogue05farmuoft#page/338/mode/2up), published 1890. Farmer and Henley refer the 1563 date to Oliphant, who specifies that he used the "Cattley edition" as the source of his observations on Foxe's 'new English'. Foxe does attest 'quandarie' (but not 'quandary') in the [1563 edition](http://www.johnfoxe.org/index.php?realm=text&gototype=modern&edition=1563&pageid=1345&anchor=quandarie#kw) of *Acts and Monuments*, using it in what I take to be the sense of 'predicament': > ...although at the begynnyng (as I must nedes confesse) whan first myne aduersaryes attempted to apprehende me, I some thynge trembled, beynge dismaied at the sodeynnesse of the perylle. But yet by the prouydence of almyghtie God I was delyuered of that quandarie before I was caste into prison. Foxe also attests 'quandary' (but not 'quandarie') in the [1583 edition](http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/328075/a-quandary-on-the-etymology-of-quandary): > ...but to burne his legges first, whiche they did: he not dismaying any whit, but suffered all meruaylous cherefully, whiche moued the people to such a quandary as was not in Rome many a day. This latter use I take to be in the sense of 'perplexity'. Foxe's 1563 attestation of 'quandarie' predates the earliest attestation (of 'quandary') given by the *OED* (third edition, Dec. 2007): > ?1576 *Common Condicions* sig. Giiv, I stand in such a quandary that I would giue my life for two pence. In [the original *Common Condicions*][10] (definitely dated 1576), that quote appears thus: [![quandary1576][11]][11] This use I take to be in a mingled sense of 'predicament and perplexity'. ## Etymology 3: Contrary Evidence ## As shown in the following clips, the proposed dialectal sources of 'quandary' present semantic and morphological difficulties that seem to me to be insurmountable: [![quandaryJWright1][12]][12] [![quandaryJWright2][13]][13] (From [*The English dialect dictionary*, Vol. 4][14], J. Wright, 1905.) While the forms 'quandorum' and 'quondorum' do suggest a Latin origin, I am unable to find verifiable attestations earlier than the late 16th century for the former, or early 17th century for the latter. [1]: https://i.sstatic.net/RnZVy.png [2]: https://books.google.com/books?id=1YWrINisO9oC&pg=PT174&dq=%22quanda%20res%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjDhYrFqY_NAhVS12MKHVSWAYE4lgEQ6AEIYTAJ#v=onepage&q=%22quanda%20res%22&f=false [3]: https://i.sstatic.net/eGhOA.png [4]: https://i.sstatic.net/QV3oR.png [5]: https://books.google.com/books?id=QItSAAAAcAAJ&pg=PT169&dq=%22quanda%20re%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjD0-vht4zNAhVV7mMKHSB2DssQ6AEIVDAI#v=onepage&q=%22quanda%20re%22&f=false [6]: https://books.google.com/books?id=Cb9SAAAAcAAJ&pg=PT76&dq=%22quanda%20res%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjDhYrFqY_NAhVS12MKHVSWAYE4lgEQ6AEIWTAI#v=onepage&q=%22quanda%20res%22&f=false [7]: https://i.sstatic.net/XKior.png [8]: https://books.google.com/books?id=7ul_mn565IYC&pg=RA1-PA33&dq=%22quanda%20re%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi4mYiavIzNAhVL1mMKHR7IBcU4eBDoAQhgMAk#v=onepage&q=%22quanda%20re%22&f=false [9]: https://books.google.com/books?id=Et1hAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA66&dq=quandary%20conundrum&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjowNivp4jNAhVIyWMKHfr_AP4Q6AEILjAD#v=onepage&q=quandary%20conundrum&f=false [10]: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101066457670;view=1up;seq=73 [11]: https://i.sstatic.net/ZJAZ3.png [12]: https://i.sstatic.net/ZFauO.png [13]: https://i.sstatic.net/0UoZd.png [14]: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc2.ark:/13960/t2697f38j;view=1up;seq=679