Etymology of "quandary"

It's always terrific to come across a word with unknown etymology,
especially when the OED cites Leo Spitzer, one of the great philologists of
the last century -- he carried all European literature around in his head,
someone said.

Dan

"Quandary" in *Oxford English Dictionary*:

Etymology: Origin unknown. Various etymologies have been suggested, *all of
them implausible*. Perhaps compare CONUNDRUM n.

A recurrent suggestion is that the word is an alteration of some
post-classical Latin term, arising (perhaps humorously) in scholastic or
university use. This is not impossible …

Some of the more fanciful suggestions are: that the word derives < French
qu'en dirai-je ‘what shall I say of it?’; …

A further ingenious suggestion was made by L. Spitzer …  he argued for a
French origin of the word, proposing an (*unattested*) earlier form of
calambredaine (colloquial) nonsense, twaddle, balderdash (1798; of
uncertain origin) as common etymon of both QUANDARY n. and CONUNDRUM n.,
and perhaps even of KANKEDORT n. (which is attested much earlier).
[Chaucer: "Was Troylus nought in a kankedort?"]