Richard van den Berg wrote:
On Sun, 03 Jan 2010 07:57:22 +0700 Bruce In Bangkok
) wrote:
First you state that taffrail comes from the Dutch word for an ornate
stern of a ship and then you state that it comes from the word that
specifically refers to an ornately decorated stern rail.

I don't think you can have it both ways. Either the term applies to a
stern or a rail.

The closest word in Dutch might be "tafel" - which means table.
Gebeeldhouwd means carved and a carved railing would be gebeeldhouwd
hekwerk.

Taffrail sounds also very much like "tafereel" and guess what Google
gave with "taffrail tafereel": http://www.dictionary.net/taffrail


Ha! Bruce has many fine qualities, among which, the ready acceptance of
a better answer than the one on which he has settled, does not show up.
He will continue to argue the merits to unusual lengths. Watch!

Brian W