whisker: etymology in AHD4

[Steve Kl.]

I'll pass this on to our etymologist. Thanks.

- Steve

On Fri, May 21, 2010 at 9:59 AM, Mark Mandel <thnidu at gmail.com> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Mark Mandel <thnidu at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      whisker: etymology in AHD4
>
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>
> Wondering whether "whisker" & "whisk broom" were related, I checked in the
> American Heritage Dictionary 4ed (hardbound), and found this etymology
> under  "whisker" (pasted from online
> edition<http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/whisker>,
> which is the same):
>
> ETYMOLOGY:
> Middle English wisker, anything that wisks, from wisken, to whisk ; see
> whisk
>
> So the answer to my original question was Yes.
>
> But "anything that wisks"? No entry for "wisk": it's a typo for "whisk".
>
> Anyone here from Houghton Mifflin?
>
> m a m
>
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