Husky
mid 19th century (originally denoting a Labrador Inuit): abbreviation of obsolete Ehuskemay or Newfoundland dialect Huskemaw ‘Eskimo’, probably from Montagnais (see Eskimo). The term replaced the 18th-century term Eskimo dog .
wiktionary
From husk + -y; in relation to voice, from the sense "dry as a husk" or "tough as a husk".
Shortening of husky dog, where husky is ultimately from the same Old Montagnais root as Eskimo.
etymonline
husky (adj.)
"hoarse," c. 1722 in reference to a cattle disease (of persons, 1740), from husk (n.) + -y (2) on the notion of "dry as a husk." Earlier (1550s) "having husks, full of husks." Sense of "tough and strong" (like corn husks) is first found 1869, American English. Related: Huskily; huskiness.
husky (n.)
"Eskimo dog," 1852, Canadian English, earlier (1830) hoskey "an Eskimo," probably shortened variant of Ehuskemay (1743), itself a variant of Eskimo.
The moment any vessel is noticed steering for these islands [Whalefish Islands], the Esquimaux, or "Huskies,"* as the Danes customarily term them, come off in sufficient numbers to satisfy you that you are near the haunts of uncivilized men, and will afford sufficient information to guide any stranger to his anchorage. *"Husky" is their own term. I recollect the chorus to a song at Kamtchatka was "Husky, Husky." ["Last of the Arctic Voyages," London, 1855]
