The blacksmith is a skilled ____ who works with iron and steel.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree
Proto-Germanic *smiþaz
Proto-West Germanic *smiþ
Old English smiþ
Middle English smyth
English smith
From Middle English smeth, smith, smiþ, smið, smyth, smythe, smyþ, smyþe, from Old English smiþ, from Proto-West Germanic *smiþ, from Proto-Germanic *smiþaz (“smith”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *smey- (“to smear, spread”).
Cognates
Cognate with Alemannic German Schmid, schméd, schmét, schmìd (“smith”), Bavarian schmidt, schmit, sghmiid (“smith”), Cimbrian smit, smitt (“smith”), Dutch smid (“smith”), German Schmied, Schmidt (“smith”), Low German Smidd, Smitt (“smith”), Luxembourgish Schmadd (“smith”), Mòcheno schmi' (“smith”), Vilamovian śmejt (“blacksmith”), Yiddish שמיד (shmid, “blacksmith, smith”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish smed (“smith”), Elfdalian smið (“smith”), Faroese and Icelandic smiður (“smith”), Gothic *𐍃𐌼𐌹𐌸𐌰 (*smiþa, “smith”) (whence 𐌰𐌹𐌶𐌰𐍃𐌼𐌹𐌸𐌰 (aizasmiþa, “coppersmith”)); also Greek σμίλη (smíli, “chisel”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The smiths themselves were a grand lot of fellows, full of a robust, and sometimes Rabelaisian sense of humour, and between "heats," they could be most entertaining."
— 1945 January and February, A Former Pupil, “Some Memories of Crewe Works—III”, in Railway Magazine, page 13:
"Sigurd took the very best sword
That the Dwarfs had ever smithed."
— 1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 258:
"Patingham selmonger, who, as it was reported, reneuced the Arians opinion before he dyed. The xvi. daye were burned [at the stake], at Staines. Robert Smith[,] painter, who in the tyme of his imprisonment, wrate byuers thinges in Metre, which were after put in print. At Stortford Stephan Harwoode Alebruer. And at Ware Thomas Fuſſe Jerkenmaker."
— 1559, Thomas Lanquet, Thomas Cooper, Robert Crowley, An Epitome of Cronicles, London: Thomas Marshe:
"This ſyſtem, as it was much eſteemed by many antient fathers of the chriſtian church, ſo after the reformation it was adopted by feveral divines of the moſt eminent piety and learning and of the moſt amiable manners; particularly, by Dr. Ralph Cudworth, by Dr. Henry More, and by Mr. John Smith of Cambridge."
— 1759, Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, pages 360–361:
"John is a most excellent name, and Smith is a surname which is worthy of respect and honor, but wo to the man on whom they are conjoined! For John Smith to aspire to senatorial dignities or to the laurel of a poet is simply ridiculous. Who is John Smith? He is lost in the multitude of John Smiths, and individual fame is impossible."
— 1852 August 26, D. H. Jacques, “A Chapter on Names”, in The Knickerbocker, or, New-York Monthly Magazine, volume XL, page 114: