köken: From Middle High German wachtel, wahtel, from Old High German wahtala, wahtila, from Proto-West Germanic *hwahtlā (“quail”). The sense “prison guard” is due to similarity with the (non-derogatory) synonyms Wache and Wächter.
köken: Borrowed from Turkic, likely from Ottoman Turkish بلدرجین (bıldırcın) or Azerbaijani bildirçin, ultimately from Proto-Turkic *bïldur-, *buldïr- (“quail”). Largely displaced Classical Persian وَرْتِیج (wartīj) in Iranian Persian.
köken: From Middle Dutch quackele, from *kwakila (compare Low German Quakkel), blend of *kwak (“quack”) and Proto-Germanic *hwahtilō (“quail”) (compare dialectal Dutch wachtel, German Wachtel), diminutive of Proto-Indo-European *kʷoḱt- (compare Latin co(c)turnīx, Lithuanian vaštaka, Sanskrit चातक (cātaka, “pied cuckoo”)), metathesis of *u̯ortokʷ- (“quail”) (compare Dutch kwartel). More at kwartel. Not…
köken: First attested in the Bullyu dugongbu si eonhae (分類杜工部詩諺解 / 분류두공부시언해), 1481, as Middle Korean 모ᄎᆞ〮라기〮 (Yale: mwòchólàkí). From 메 (me, “mountain”) + 추라기 (churagi, “?”).