All knowledge is contained somewhere

[womzilla]

Years ago, I was reading a collection of obscure and obsolete words. It was not mine; I remember reading it in the apartment of my college roommate, Michael V. Grubb.

One of the definitions was something like "a board with the letters of the alphabet, used to facilitate communication by the deaf or mute"--that is, a board on which someone could point out letters, to spell words.

The word was, I swear, "ansible".

I have never found any confirmation of this origin of the word. Can anyone confirm or refute my memory?

Comments

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

It's not in OED II, under that spelling anyway.