quiver [ME] There are two separate quivers in English, one the case for arrows and the other to shake or tremble. The quiver for arrows was borrowed from French quivre, which seems in turn to have been borrowed from a Germanic word. This seems ultimately to go back to a word introduced into Europe by the invading Huns in the 4th or 5th century. The Huns were an alliance of various Asiatic peoples who were well known for their skills at horseback archery, and thus quiver may be one of the few words in English from a Mongolian language. The other quiver, to shake, is Late Middle English and of obscure origin. It belongs to a group of words with similar meanings such as quaver [LME], quake [OE], and quagmire [M16th] which probably have a Germanic origin.