Catsup, Catchup, or Ketchup

Will any of your philological readers be so obliging as to communicate any *note* he may have touching the original or definition of the word *Catchup*? It does not appear in Johnson's *Dictionary*. Mr. Todd, in his edition, inserts it with an asterisk, denoting it as a new introduction, and under *Catsup* says, see *Catchup*. Under this latter word he says—"Sometimes *improperly* written *Ketchup*, a poignant liquor made from boiled mushrooms, mixed with salt, used in cooking to add a pleasant flavour to sauces." He gives no *derivation* of the word *itself*, and yet pronounces the very commo…