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Simplified etymology
The origin of quiz is uncertain, though it may have begun as late-18th-century school or university slang. It first denoted an odd person or odd-looking thing and, as a verb, meant “mock”; its use for a test of knowledge arose in the 1860s, perhaps under the influence of inquisitive. The story that a Dublin theatre owner invented the word as a wager lacks evidence.
Etymology
Attested since the 1780s, of unknown origin. * The Century Dictionary suggests it was originally applied to a popular toy, from a dialectal variant of whiz. * The Random House Dictionary suggests the original sense was "odd person" (circa 1780). * Others suggest the meaning "hoax" was original (1796), shifting to the meaning "interrogate" (1847) under the influence of question and inquisitive. * Some say without evidence it was invented by a late-18th-century Dublin theatre proprietor who bet he could add a new nonsense word to the English language; he had the word painted on walls all over th…