Jinx wrote:
>> Is spanner the Brit name for wrench, like open end or box wrench
>> or perhaps crescent wrench?
> 
> 'spanner' used to be, and probably still is, more common in the UK
> and Commonwealth countries than 'wrench'
> 
> My older UK dictionary (1951) says
> 
> 'Spanking - a series of slaps intended as...' ooops
> 
> 'Spanner - span(1) + er, a wrench (then obvious definition)
> 
> 'Span(1) - 
> Old English/Middle English/Old High German/Dutch 'spannen',
> clasp, enfold, fasten, stretch ; Old Norse 'sponn'
> 
> 'Wrench' - OE/ME/MHG twist
> 
> (interesting OHG word derivation for 'wench', too fortuitously
> suggestive even for me to post)
> 
> An adjustable one (wrench, not wench) is known as in, IME,
> decreasing popularity
> 
> Crescent
> Monkey wrench
> Adjustable spanner
> 
> 
Spanner (as a wrench) was used by Mark Twain in his story "Roughing It", 
ca. 1880.  See Gutenberg press.
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