Note 943 — Chapter XIV · DOWN UNDER.
Reading edition
The authorities connect the surnames Kettle and Chettle with the Kettle or Cauldron of Norse mythology, whence Prof. Weekley writes: “The renowned Captain Kettle, described by his creator as a Welshman, must have descended from some hardy Norse pirate”. Why Norse? The word kettle, Gaelic cadhal, is supposedly borrowed from the Latin catillus, a small bowl: the Greek for cup is kotulos, and it is probable that kettle and cotyledon are alike radically Ket, Cot, or Cad. In Scotland adhan meant cauldron, whence Rust thinks that Edinbro or Dunedin was once a cauldron hill.