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Archiver > OLD-WORDS > 2007-01 > 1168327215


From: "Israel Cohen" <>
Subject: Re: [O-W] OLD-WORDS Digest, Vol 2, Issue 1
Date: Tue, 9 Jan 2007 09:20:15 +0200
References: <mailman.719.1168322438.1340.old-words@rootsweb.com>
In-Reply-To: <mailman.719.1168322438.1340.old-words@rootsweb.com>


>> I am trying to find the meaning to " (Qet) " found next to some
names on the early Census records . <<

It is probably an abbreviation for "quietus" and refers to someone who
died during that year or died since the last previous census.

quietus
S: (n) rest, eternal rest, sleep, eternal sleep, quietus (euphemisms
for death (based on an analogy between lying in a bed and in a tomb))
http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=quietus

Compare requiem [from the Online Etymological Dictionary]
"mass for repose of the soul of the dead," c.1303, from L. requiem,
accusative sing. of requies "rest (after labor), repose," from re-,
intensive prefix, + quies "quiet" (see quiet). It is the first word of
the Mass for the Dead in the Latin liturgy: "Requiem æternam dona eis,
Domine ...."

ciao,
Israel "izzy" Cohen
ex-actuarial mathematician

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