picnic

Extract from an email conversation with a Dutch friend.

Any comments?

> > > > BTW where did you pick up the weird spelling of "picnic"?
> > >
> > > Thin air and the Dutch dictionary. Since it's spelled with ck in
> > > Dutch, and that combination doesn't occur naturally in Dutch, I
> > > assumed that we inherited that spelling from English.
> >
> > It probably was spelt that way a few centuries ago.
>
> According to the dictionary, no. Apparently it was spelled pique-
> nique in French, has no etymology to speak of, and was adopted into
> other languages at will. Amusingly enough, English got picnic (which
> doesn't look too English), whereas Dutch and German got picknick
> (which has an English feel in either language).
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