Word for the Wise on "doughboy"

[A. Vine]

I was perusing the Word for the Wise text on the Merriam-Webster site
(http://www.m-w.com) when I came across the following:

    Another coinage from that year [1865] is more closely
    connected with World War I than the Civil War. It was
    doughboy, the term for an American infantryman.
    Supposedly, that word originated with globular buttons
    on soldiers' uniforms that resembled a type of small
    round donut known as a doughboy.

The text appears at:

http://www.m-w.com/wftw/99feb/020199.htm

Andrea
--
Andrea Vine
Sun Internet Mail Server i18n architect
avine at eng.sun.com
Romanes eunt domus.