"cumberbund"

[Douglas G. Wilson]

I would always have said and written "cummerbund" myself AFAIK. I don't
remember hearing or reading "cumberbund", but I might have entirely
ignored this as a presumed variant (or error). I haven't discussed
cummerbunds very often.

What is surprising to me is the high frequency of "cumberbund" in edited
text. Quick Google Books search shows the "-ummer-" spellings
outnumbering the "-umber-" ones only about 3-to-2. And the "-umber-"
ones are reasonably frequent back to the early 19th century. But such
dictionaries as MW3 and RHUD entirely omit the "-umber-" variant: strange.

-- Doug Wilson

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