Re: Whisky (was Re: Swedish alphabet [was: Re: Spanishalphabet])

"Raymond A. Brown" wrote:
> BTW 'Chwisgi' comes from Wales (not, alas, one its better products!)
Ah!  Is that where the {wh} spelling came from?  Whisky is from Gaelic
_uisge beatha_, which has no [w_0], as I understand it (I think it's
[wisk_je b_jaha]?), while Scotish English retains the /w_0/ phoneme, so
if they spelt it with {wh}, it seems reasonable that they must've
pronounced it with /w_0/

> Presumably American brands that use the spelling 'whisky' are deliberately
> trying to produce a taste closer Scottish varieties rather than north
> American or Irish varieties.
Or maybe they just don't care.  :-)

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