The alt.usage.english FAQ   

• "quiz"

  (Word Origins)
  
  

  
     This is first recorded in 1749 in the sense "an odd person".  It
  is *doubtful* that "quiz" came from an alleged incident in which
  James Daly, a late-18th-century Dublin theatre manager, made a wager
  that he could introduce a new word into the English language
  overnight, and hired urchins to chalk the word "quiz" on every wall
  and billboard in Dublin.  "Quiz" may come from the Latin "Qui es?"
  (= "Who are you?", the first question asked in Latin oral exams in
  grammar schools), or it may be a shortening of "inquisitive".

  
  
  Source: [Mark Israel, 'Word Origins: "quiz"', The alt.usage.english FAQ file,(line 4054), (29 Sept 1997)]
  
  
  
  

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