"Wippen" (was "Whippen" cords)

[Paul S. Larudee]

Bill,

Yep, that's the origin, all right, but if we now consider it an English word,
there is no standard spelling, because no authoritative decision has been made in
this regard.  I prefer to ditch the "h" out of respect for the origin, but the
word appears in no standard dictionary, which is pretty astounding if you ask
me.  I don't know of any other entire word (not merely a usage or definition)
that has been around 150 years and yet escaped the Oxford English Dictionary.  (I
sent them an e-mail but got no response.)

Paul S. Larudee, RPT
Richmond, CA

Billbrpt@AOL.COM wrote:

> It came to light a few years ago (and was written up in the Journal) that the
> word which has most often been spelled, "whippen" comes from a German verb
> (not the name of an object but a word describing an action) which means "to
> rock", "wippen".  In German, the "W" is pronounced as a "V" is in English, so
> the word in German sounds like "Vippen".
>
> Many words used in Piano Technology came out of factories in which there were
> people using mixtures of language.  An example would be the German makers and
> craftsmen who went to England, the United States and Canada.  Somehow, the
> English speaking workers and the Germans would learn to understand each
> other, each learning a bit of the other's language.
>
> The present day thinking is that this word should be spelled, "Wippen" but it
> is also recognized that the word has often been spelled with the "h"
> inserted.  The abbreviation, "Whips" is also commonly used to refer to a set
> of them.  It would seem to me that if "Wippen" is correct, then a good
> abbreviation for a set of them  would be, "Wips", not "Whips", although I
> have never seen the word, "Wips" in print.
>
> Bill Bremmer RPT
> Madison, Wisconsin