"Keister" etymology (valise=turkey?)

[Wilson Gray]

On 12/9/05, Douglas G. Wilson <douglas at nb.net> wrote:
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Douglas G. Wilson" <douglas at NB.NET>
> Subject:      Re: "Keister" etymology (valise=turkey?)
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> >Any updates on "keister"?
>
> HDAS derives it from German "Kiste", which seems likely enough, although I
> don't know whether alternative derivations (e.g., from the English or
> Scots
> cognate "kist" or from the Irish cognate "ciste") have been thoroughly
> excluded.
>
> Here's a spelling variant (from N'archive):
>
> ----------
>
> _Evening Democrat_ (Warren PA), 27 Nov. 1894: p. "2":
>
> <<He [the baggageman] approaches you with a smile, goes away with
> twenty-five cents and ties your bruised and battered kister with a tow
> string.>>
>
> ----------
>
> -- Doug Wilson
>

Then, how is the timbre of the /i/ in "keister" to be explained? That is,
why [kiystr] and not [kIstr]," if the source is German "kiste" [kIst@] or
Irish "ciste" approx. [kISCI] or English or Scots "kist"?
--
-Wilson Gray