# Origins of "quack" for sham doctor?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-quack-for-sham-doctor/300077>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 19, 2005, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-quack-for-sham-doctor/300077 "2005-04-19T16:35:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\
**Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-quack-for-sham-doctor/300077/1 "2005-04-19T16:35:29Z")

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A few weeks ago they did a story on “CBS Sunday Morning” about “quacks”.

They mentioned that there was some German word for charlatan (or something) that sounded similar. This sounded likely.

Then, they mentioned that maybe it was also because of the way the old “snake oil salesmen” sounded. Which sounded like a stretch. They even played a recording of one of the guys and it didn’t sound anything like quacking.

Straight dope? Anyone got that german word, or an early usage?

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**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\
**Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-quack-for-sham-doctor/300077/2 "2005-04-19T16:50:43Z")

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According to [this page](http://www.allwords.com/word-quack.html), it derives from “Dutch quacksalver, from kwakken to quack + salf an ointment.”

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**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\
**Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-quack-for-sham-doctor/300077/3 "2005-04-19T16:53:00Z")

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It’s an abbreviation of quacksalver, first cite 16th century, from the Dutch _quacksalver_ , (German _quacksalber_ ).

The second element is from salve, to heal. The first is commonly regarded as the stem of _quacken_ , modern Dutch _kwakken_ , to quack.

Info from OED1.

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**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\
**Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-quack-for-sham-doctor/300077/4 "2005-04-19T17:55:01Z")

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I thought “quacksalver” was a variation on “quicksilver” (aka the element Mercury), which was one of the common tools of the sham-doctor trade.

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**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\
**Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-quack-for-sham-doctor/300077/5 "2005-04-19T18:08:38Z")

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The claims of phony healers do not echo, and nobody knows why. 😉😃