Somehow I knew that sooner or later my bibliography on fluid preservation
would prove to be of some practical use. Little did I think it would be on
Museum-L. But here you go--on an issue as critical as the spelling of
whiskey or whisky, the only place to go is the source of sources, the Oxford
English Dictionary. There you will find that the word is short for
Whiskybae (Gaelic is Uisgebeatha, or 'water of life'). The OED says that "In
modern trade usage, Scotch whisky and Irish whiskey are thus distinguished
in spelling; whisky is the usual spelling in Britain and whiskey that in the
U.S." It is worth noting that the first use of the word in English was in
1715: "in Maidment Bk. Scot. Pasquils (1868) 404 Whiskie shall put our
brains in rage."
Oh, but so true. Cheers, folks.
--John
John E. Simmons
Collection Manager, Natural History Museum
and
Coordinator, Historical Administration and Museum Studies Program
University of Kansas
Dyche Hall
1345 Jayhawk Boulevard
Lawrence, Kansas 66045-7561
Phone 785-864-4508
FAX 785-864-5335
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-----Original Message-----
From: Panza, Robin [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, January 10, 2002 3:42 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Whiskey/Whisky (little museum content)
The Random House Dictionary of the English Language (=American Language),
second edition unabridged (1987) lists "whiskey", with its assorted
definitions. Then there's "whiskey jack" (a bird), "Whiskey Rebellion" (a
revolt), and "whiskey sour" (a drink). Finally, there's "whisky", whose
sole and complete definition is "whiskey".
Clearly, Random House believes the stuff has an "e" in it!
Robin K Panza
Section of Birds, Carnegie Museum of Natural History
4400 Forbes Ave.
Pittsburgh PA 15213 USA
phone: 412-622-3255
fax: 412-622-8837
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-----Original Message-----
From: Robert P. Martin [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
I stand corrected on the controversial spelling of whiskey. It seems like
there was once a hard-and-fast rule for this, but now people can add
vowels to things willy-nilly! What is the world coming to? :) From now
on, I'm going back to spelling it Uisce. Thanks, Jerry, for your
correction.
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