Ask the Times

By TIMES WIRES
Published June 4, 2007

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Does the reference to doctors as "quacks" come from the plague masks that had beaklike elongated portions where doctors put herbs to cover the odors?

No. According to several etymology dictionaries, "quack" as a reference to doctors comes from the shortened version of the 16th century Dutch word "quacksalver." It was derived from the sound of a duck and salve for medicine. Quacks were traveling medicine men hawking their cures.

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