Interesting History of Earthquakes Word Origin and History of Earthquakes "A series of vibrations induced in the earth's crust by the abrupt rupture and rebound of rocks in which elastic strain has been slowly accumulating. "Something that is severely disruptive; upheaval. "Late 13th century, eorthequakynge, from earth + quake. In this sense Old English had eorodyn, eorohrernes, eorobeofung, eorostyren." http: //www.dictionary.com/browse/earthquake Jabez Hughes; Miscellamies in verse and prose; John Watts; 1737 Jabez Hughes writes: "Nor is it strange the Fires above decay, / While inwardly they work their eager Way, / And the fierce Milstone do's new Mischief form, / And give the Signal of a second Storm; / For when the rustling Winds begin to blow, / And threat an angry Deluge from below, / A rocking Earthquake shakes the solid Ground, / And sullen Groans and Murmurs dire resound, / And Flakes of livid Flames are belch'd around: / Then to some distant Hill's securer Height, / With utmost Speed precipitate your Flight, / For hissing Streams o'erflow the wretched Coast, / And Fragments of the Rock aloft are tost, / And loads of Sand are wildly whirl'd on high, / With hideous Roar, and blacken all the Sky. / These horrid Inmates thus dismist, the Hill / Relents, and its convulsive Pangs are still;"