Wiktionary

Qualm

See also: qualm

German edit

FWOTD – 7 May 2020

Alternative forms edit

Etymology edit

16th century, from Middle Low German quallem (“vapor, steam, smoke”). Cognate with Dutch kwalm. Usually considered a derivative of quellen (“to well, swell up”).[1][2]

Alternatively with the common Low and Central German development dw-, tw- → qu- (as in quer, Quark etc.) from Old Saxon dwalm (“benumbment, bemusement”), cognate of Old High German twalm, Old English dwolma. Further from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeuə- (“spray, swirl, whirl”). However, the documented meanings seem to speak against this.[1]

Pronunciation edit

  • IPA(key): /kvalm/, [kʋalm], [kv̥alm][3]
  • Audio(file)
  • Hyphenation: Qualm

Noun edit

Qualm m (strong, genitive Qualmes or Qualms, no plural)

  1. smoke, particularly when very dense or regarded as unpleasant; fume
    Synonyms: Rauch, Schmauch
    beißender, dichter, dicker, weißer, schwarzer Qualm
    acrid, dense, thick, white, black smoke/fumes
    Zigarettenqualm ― cigarette smoke
    • 1964, Dieter Noll, Die Abenteuer des Werner Holt: Roman einer Heimkehr (Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin 1964), page 307 (GoogleBooks; retrieved 19 July 2015)
      Fern erhob sich die Silhouette der Brikettfabrik mit ihren Schloten, und die Schornsteine spien Qualm aus, schwarzen, undurchdringlichen Rauch, der sich wie ein Vorhang vor den Horizont legte. In dieser Wand aus Wolken und Qualm und Morgendunst stand blutrot die Sonnenscheibe.
      Far off rose up the silhouette of the briquette factory with its smokestacks, and those chimneys disgorged thick fumes, black, dense smoke, that drew before the horizon like a curtain. In this wall of clouds and thick fumes and morning haze stood blood-redly the Sun′s disc.

Declension edit

Declension of Qualm [sg-only, masculine, strong]
singular
indef. def. noun
nominative ein der Qualm
genitive eines des Qualmes, Qualms
dative einem dem Qualm, Qualme1
accusative einen den Qualm

1Now rare, see notes.

Synonyms edit

See also edit

References edit

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Friedrich Kluge, revised by Elmar Seebold: Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache. 24th, checked through and expanded edition. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin/New York 2001, →ISBN, p. 734.
  2. ^ “Qualm” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
  3. ^ Eva-Maria Krech, Eberhard Stock, Ursula Hirschfeld, Lutz Christian Anders et al.: Deutsches Aussprachewörterbuch: Mit Beiträgen von Walter Haas, Ingrid Hove, Peter Wiesinger. 1st edition. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin/New York 2009, →ISBN, p. 853.

Further reading edit

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