S. Worthen | Weblog

I asked the OED, always good for a laugh on the subject of garden gnomes and word etymology, and it considers "whimsey" a viable alternate form. I've included a few highlights from the OED definition...

whimsy, whimsey.
hwi.mzi, sb. (a.) Forms: 7 whim-, whymzie, whimsee, 7-8 whimzy, 8 whymsey, 7-9 whimsie, whims(e)y. See whim-wham

1. Dizziness, giddiness, vertigo. Obs.
Example -- 16.. Middleton, etc. Old Law iii. ii, I ha' got the scotomy in my head already, The whimsey: you all turn round

2. A wench. Obs. rare.
Example: 1625 Fletcher Bloody Brother iv. ii, You'l pick a bottle open, or a whimsey, As soon as the best of us

3. a. = whim sb.1 3.
Example: 1646 J. Hall Horæ Vac; 31 That whimsey of Pythagoras of the transmigration of Soules
Example: 1803 Jefferson Writ. (1830) III. 508 Plato, who only used the name of Socrates to cover the whimsies of his own brain.

4. = whim sb.1 2 a.
1906 E. V. Lucas Wand. in Lond. i. 14 The lodge in the garden of the Record Office. This little architectural whimsy might be the abode of an urban fairy or gnome

a. = whim sb.1 4. local.
1875 Ure's Dict. Arts III. 319 In Cornwall, a kibble, in which the ore is raised in the shafts, by machines called whims or whimseys.

7.a. Glass-making. (See quot.)
1856 H. Chance in Jrnl. Soc. Arts IV. 224/2 Still whirling, the table [of crown glass], as it is now called, is carried off, laid flat upon a support called a whimsey, detached by shears from the ponty, [etc.]