Where did "Qward" come from?

[Gorblax]

What's the origin of the name "Qward" in the Green Lantern comics? Did any of the writers ever say where they pulled it from? It seems like it's a play on something, but I can't imagine what.

[The Odd Man]

I always took it as a play on Guardians. Guardians -> Qwardians.

[Captain Smith]

From Qwark, the subatomic particle named after German cream cheese. They were known for eating massive amounts before going into battle.

[Jody Garland]

It comes from Backwards, doesn't it? Phonetically it's ba-qward, after all.

[Jim Kelly]

The particle quark was named from something in James Joyce's FINNEGAN'S WAKE--but the particle wasn't named as such until 1963, three years after Qward appeared in the comics.

The "backward" theory is the one that makes the most sense to me. But I know that Schwartz and his writers used a lot of names drawn from their own personal life, so I think there might be an origin no one has mentioned yet.

[scary harpy]

It comes from Backwards, doesn't it? Phonetically it's ba-qward, after all.

This is what I heard.

[Jim Kelly]

If backward is the true source of the word, maybe it was in Schwartz's mind from playing contract bridge, which he played competitively. In contract bridge there's the backward finesse which is "A combination of two finesses in a suit such that the first finesse is 'backward': that is, leading away from the hand containing the tenace." I think that Broome also played bridge with Julie.

[The Odd Man]

It comes from Backwards, doesn't it? Phonetically it's ba-qward, after all.

Never heard that before, but it makes sense!