Perhaps from Middle Englishqualm, cwalm (“death, sickness, plague”), which is from Old Englishcwealm(West Saxon: "death, disaster, plague"), ūtcualm(Anglian: "utter destruction"), from Proto-Germanic*kwalmaz (“killing, death, destruction”), from Proto-Indo-European*gʷelH- (“to stick, pierce; pain, injury, death”), whence also quell. Although the sense development is possible, this has the problem that there are no attestations in intermediate senses before the appearance of "pang of apprehension, etc." in the 16th century. The alternative etymology is from Dutchkwalm or GermanQualm "steam, vapor, mist," earlier "daze, stupefaction", which is from the root of German quellen (“stream, well up”). The sense "feeling of faintness" is from 1530; "uneasiness, doubt" from 1553; "scruple of conscience" from 1649.
2012 August 25, Andy Pasztor, “Armstrong, First Man on Moon, Dies”, in Wall Street Journal[1], retrieved 2012-08-26:
Opponents of those privatization plans hoped to use Mr. Armstrong's qualms as ammunition to block the White House initiatives, and they asked for more public statements.
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