Etymograph

English

smith

Smith comes from Middle English smeth, from Old English smiþ, from Proto-Germanic *smiþaz ‘smith’, possibly from PIE *smey- ‘to smear, spread’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*smey-‘to smear, spread’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*smiþaz‘smith’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*smiþ‘craftsman’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150smiþ‘smith’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500smeth
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1945smith

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*smey-‘to smear, spread’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*smiþaz‘smith’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*smiþ‘craftsman’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150smiþ‘smith’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500smeth
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1945smith

Earliest quotation: 1945, and February, Some Memories of Crewe Works—III: “The smiths themselves were a grand lot of fellows,…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *smey- ‘to smear, spread’

mirror, smile, admirable, comity, 3 more

Another origin of smith

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*smiþazreconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*smiþōną‘to forge, fashion’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*smiþōn‘to forge, fashion’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150smiþian‘to forge, fabricate’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500smythen‘to work metal, forge, beat into, torment, refine’
  6. Englishtodaysmith

Today it means

noun A craftsperson who works metal into desired forms using a hammer and other tools, sometimes heating the metal to make it more workable, especially a blacksmith.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *smey- / smith

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