On Thu, 15 Dec 2005 08:54:07 -0800, Enoch Root
wrote:


Oxford Concise:

"N. English make or repair. -- Origin ME (in the general sense 'to
prepare'): from dial. fettle 'strip of material', from OE fetel, of
Germanic origin.

I assumed it was divergent from 'fiddle' but that's a different word
altogether, with its own origins.


Thanks, that answers the question I posed and, as a result, I am in
"fine fettle".

I guess it's as good a term as any to use when describing tuning a
wood plane, but it is a tiny bit obtuse isn't it. Maybe we woodie
types need a vocabulary that sets us apart, is recognizable only by
the cognoscenti. Sort of like the mediaeval trades councils (and the
medical profession today. Anus? It's an a..hole, and your finger is in
it!).