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It seems to come from a 13c Middle English interjection ho or hoo (an exclamation meaning "halt!" or a call to get attention), which may itself come from the earlier Old Norse, hó!
The modern day word “whoa”, meaning stop, is from the same root.

Thanks, Brendan and Jono - I was a little interested, but now feel I have learned enough!

That's brilliant Jono, many thanks indeed.

That was fun, thanks to Chalicea.
Brendan, I use the printed book too but that facility must speed things up. Life surely gets harder for setters with all the work-arounds nowadays, anagram solvers etc which I use regularly.