"Gurney" etymology

[Laurence Horn]

At 11:07 PM -0400 4/13/04, Sam Clements wrote:
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Douglas G. Wilson" <douglas at NB.NET>
>To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Sent: Tuesday, April 13, 2004 10:27 PM
>Subject: "Gurney" etymology
>
>
>>  Is the origin of "gurney" = "wheeled cart or bed" (medical and other
>>  jargon, I think) known?
>>
>>  I am surprised to find no very plausible origin in quick Web-search. My
>>  dictionaries have nothing very likely; AHD mentions a horse-drawn cab from
>>  1883, but I think the current usage dates from about 50 years later.
>>
>>  A notion which occurs to me involves the Gurney brand of ball bearings.
>Has
>>  anybody looked into this?
>>
>>  -- Doug Wilson
>
>Evan Morris at least published a column
>http://www.word-detective.com/070599.html#gurney
>

...in which, while acknowledging that we have no info on "gurney"
itself, he endorses the acronymic theory for the origin of "gomer" (<
Get Out of My Emergency Room).  As I recall, some of the respondents
here favored the Gomer Pyle theory.

larry