different between fettle vs ettle

English

Etymology

From Middle English fetlen (“to ready, fix, arrange, prepare”), of obscure origin. Perhaps from Old English fetian (“to fetch”) or from Old English fetel (“belt, girdle”). Compare Old English ?efetelsod (“provided with a belt; trimmed, polished, ornamented”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?f?t?l/
• Rhymes: -?t?l

Noun

fettle (plural fettles)

1. A state of proper physical condition; kilter or trim.
2. One's mental state; spirits.
3. Sand used to line a furnace.
4. (Tyneside, Cumbria) A person's mood or state, often assuming the worst.

   What's yer fettle marra?

5. (ceramics) a seam line left by the meeting of mold pieces.
6. (Britain, dialect) The act of fettling.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Wright to this entry?)

Usage notes

Outside of dialects, this term is a fossil, found only in the phrase in fine fettle.

Derived terms

• in fine fettle

Translations

Verb

fettle (third-person singular simple present fettles, present participle fettling, simple past and past participle fettled)

1. (Northern England) To sort out, to fix, to mend, to repair.
   • 1858 Thomas Carlyle, History of Friedrich II of Prussia

     He is getting his saddle altered: fettling about this and that; does not consider what danger he is in.

   • 1938, Xavier Herbert, Capricornia, Chapter VI, p. 83, [1]

     For some time after the train had gone Oscar stood on the track conversing with members of the fettling gang […]

2. (intransitive) To make preparations; to put things in order; to do trifling business.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Bishop Hall to this entry?)

3. (transitive) To line the hearth of a furnace with sand prior to pouring molten metal.
4. (reflexive, Tyneside) To be upset or in a bad mood.

   Divint fettle yersel ower that!

5. In ceramics, to remove (as by sanding) the seam lines left by the meeting of two molds.
6. (transitive, archaic) To prepare.

Derived terms

• fettler
• fettling

Translations

See also

• fash

References

• fettle in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• Newcastle 1970s, Scott Dobson and Dick Irwin, [2]
• Frank Graham (1987) The New Geordie Dictionary, ?ISBN
• Northumberland Words, English Dialect Society, R. Oliver Heslop, 1893–4
• A List of words and phrases in everyday use by the natives of Hetton-le-Hole in the County of Durham, F.M.T.Palgrave, English Dialect Society vol.74, 1896, [3]
• Todd's Geordie Words and Phrases, George Todd, Newcastle, 1977[4]

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??tl/

Etymology 1

From Middle English etlien, atlien, from Old Norse ætla (“to think, mean, suppose, intend, purpose”), from Proto-Germanic *ahtal?n? (“to strive, think”), from Proto-Indo-European *ok- (“to think, intend, purpose”); partly from Middle English aghtelen, ahtlien (“to think, esteem, purpose, set out, arrange”), from a frequentative variant of Old English eahtian (“to estimate, esteem, fix the character or quality of something, consult about, consider, deliberate, mediate, devise, watch over, speak of with praise”), from Proto-West Germanic *aht?n (“to think, believe, fear”), from Proto-Germanic *ahwjan? (“to believe, intend, think, fear”), from Proto-Indo-European *ok?-, *h?ek?- (“to see”).

Cognate with Dutch achten (“to deem, regard, esteem, think”), German achten (“to heed, respect, value”), Danish agte (“to esteem, intend, observe, heed”), Gothic ???????????????????? (ahjan, “to think”). More at eye.

Verb

ettle (third-person singular simple present ettles, present participle ettling, simple past and past participle ettled)

1. (transitive, dialectal, chiefly Scotland) To aim; purpose; intend; attempt; try.
2. (transitive, dialectal, chiefly Scotland) To expect; reckon; count on.
3. (intransitive, dialectal, chiefly Scotland) To take aim.
4. (intransitive, dialectal, chiefly Scotland) To make attempt.
5. (intransitive, dialectal, chiefly Scotland) To direct one's course.
6. (intransitive, dialectal, chiefly Scotland) To aspire; be ambitious.

Derived terms

• ettling

Noun

ettle (plural ettles)

1. (dialectal, chiefly Scotland) Intention; intent; aim.

Synonyms

• mint

Etymology 2

A variation of addle (“to earn”).

Verb

ettle (third-person singular simple present ettles, present participle ettling, simple past and past participle ettled)

1. (obsolete) To earn.

Related terms

• ettlings

Anagrams

• tetel

Scots

Etymology

From Old Norse ætla.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?tl/

Verb

ettle (third-person singular present ettles, present participle ettlin, past ettle't, past participle ettle't)

1. to intend, mean
2. to try, attempt