I've thought about this quite a bit, but I'm stumped on how the jointer and planer got their current names.
Planing is the function of making one irregular surface perfectly flat along it's entire length/width. Any perfectly flat surface (i.e. a "plane") of any side of a board would be considered "planed".
Since nothing we have in life short of a perfectly calibrated milling machine is capable of making an absolutely perfect plane, I belive this term has come to describe a wide array of tools, whose precision varies greatly, that attempt to accomplish this task. Really, hand planes, power hand planers and full-size jointers all try to accomplish "planing," and rightly should all have the same name fully separate from thicknessing machines (commonly "planers" and thickness sanders).
So, isn't a jointer really just a huge, accurate planer that got it's name for it's great ability in making edge (and occasionally face) joints? On the flip side, a thickness planer shouldn't really be called a planer at all, just a thicknessing machine. Or am I missing something?
Andy