MDMD: What is this junk?

[Dave Monroe]

Okay, without having at hand my accrued material on
18th century astronomical instruments, I'm of the mind
here that "Dr. Nessel, the renown'd German Engineer"
(M&D, Ch. 10, p. 95) is an actual historical figure. 
Might take a couple of days for me to get the chance
to attempt confirmation there, but ...

But, while I'm at it, let me add to the possibilities
already posted not only, as Judy pointed out, the
botanical nettle ...

Main Entry: net·tle
Pronunciation: 'ne-t&l
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English netel;
akin to Old High German nazza nettle, Greek adikE
Date: before 12th century
1 : any of a genus (Urtica of the family Urticaceae,
the nettle family) of chiefly coarse herbs armed with
stinging hairs
2 : any of various prickly or stinging plants other
than the true nettles (genus Urtica)

As well as its cognates ...

Main Entry: nettle
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Form(s): net·tled; net·tling  /'net-li[ng],
'ne-t&l-i[ng]/
Date: 15th century
1 : to strike or sting with or as if with nettles
2 : to arouse to sharp but transitory annoyance or
anger
synonym see IRRITATE

And so forth ...

http://m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary

But also the Japanese proverb ...

Every worm to his taste;
some prefer to eat nettles.

Which serves as the epigraph for Junichiro Tanizaki's
Some Prefer Nettles (trans. Edward G. Seidensticker. 
Rutland, VT: Charles A. Tuttle, 1955 [1928]), which I
fortuitously picked up at a used book sale ...

I'm convinced there was an experimental Nazi Luftwaffe
rocket fighter nicknamed "Nessel" (as in "Stinging
Nettle") as well, but even the trusty Luft '46 website
...

http://luft46.com/

Doesn't seem to mention it anywhere.  Have put out an
inquiry, however.  But, again, I'll look into an
actual, historical Dr. Nessel ...

--- Judy Panetta <judy at firemist.com> wrote:
> OK OK...Nessel. It was driving me just a little
> batty trying to find some connection for Nessel. So
> here's some collected junk...

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