Etymology Dictionary

QUIET,  still, at rest, tranquil.  (L.)   'A quyet and a pesible lijf;' Wycliffe, 1 Tim. ii. 2; where the Vulgate has quietam.   [Rather from Lat. than from F.; the F. form is Coy, q.v.]—Lat. quietus, quiet; orig. pp. of quiere*, only used in the inceptive form quiescere, to rest.   β. From a base ki-á, extended from ✔KI, to lie, to rest, whence Skt. çí, to lie still, Gk. κείμαι, I lie still, rest.   See Cemetery, Coy.   Der. quiet, sb., M.E. quiete, Chaucer, C. T. 9269; quiet, verb, 1 Hen VI, iv. 1. 115; quiet-ly, quiet-ness; quiet-ude, from Late Lat. quietudo (White), a contraction for quietitudo*.   Also quiet-us, a final settlement, from Lat. quietus, adj.; quiet-ism, quiet-ist.   From Lat. quiescere we also have ac-quiesce; and see re-quiem, quit, quite, re-quite, ac-quit, dis-quiet.   Doublet, coy.