smith meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

smith

noun

/smɪθ/

Etymology

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”).

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.

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:

Broadly One who makes anything; wright.

Archaic An artist.

Synonyms: metalsmith
Derived terms: 170 terms
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Related terms: smiddy, smithery, smithy

smith

verb

Etymology From Middle English smythen (“to work metal, forge, beat into, torment, refine (of God - to refine his chosen); to create, work as a blacksmith”), from Old English smiþian (“to forge, fabricate”), from Proto-West Germanic *smiþōn, from Proto-Germanic *smiþōną. Compare Dutch smeden, German schmieden.

To forge, to form, usually on an anvil; by heating and pounding.

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: