Carpenter

Can you see the word ‘car’ in carpenter? This a big hint about the origins of the word carpenter.
 
The word carpenter comes from the Proto-Indo-European root kers (to run) which is the source of words such as Old Irish carpat and Gaelic carbad (carriage) and Gaulish karros (chariot). From these words come Latin carpentum (a wagon, two-wheeled carriage, cart) and carpentarius (wagon maker, carriage maker, cartwright).
 
PIE kers (to run) is also the root of car, career, courier, currency, curriculum (how often does this course ‘run’?), horse, and many other words. (I can’t resist taking the opportunity to say that when I was doing curriculum development work with automotive instructors, they would insist on talking about their ‘carriculum’. But I digress.)
 
At this point, you might ask, “What is the Latin word for carpenter?” Answer: Lignarius; from lignum (wood, tree).
 
Before the Norman-French invasion of England in 1066, the Anglo-Saxon word for carpenter was treowwyrtha (treewright; like millwright, wheelwright, cartwright, and so on).
 
The word ‘carpenter’ is first seen in English in the early 12th century as a surname (Mr. Carpenter). By the early 1300s the word carpenter meant someone who worked with timber or who did heavy wood-working (i.e., houses or barns rather than furniture).
 
This English word carpenter came from Anglo-French carpenter, Norman French carpentier, and Old French charpentier, all of which came from Latin carpentarius.
 
So: how did the word for wagon maker end up as the word for woodworker or carpenter?
 
As late at the 7th century, the word lignarius was still used to mean carpenter. For example, in the late sixth or early seventh centuries a Latin translation of a Byzantine Greek biography of Joseph, father of Jesus, is titled Historia Josephi Fabri Lignari; i.e., ‘a history of Joseph the wood worker’.
 
Somehow, between the 7th century and 1066 (roughly the so-called ‘Dark Ages’), the meaning of carpentarius changed. Why? At this point, in the research I have done, I cannot find the answer. I am reminded of the phrase ‘lost in translation’.

Anyway, the word carpentry (the art of cutting, framing, joining woodwork), from Old French carpenterie, appears in the late 14th century. Originally, Latin carpentaria meant a carriage-maker’s workshop; however, Medieval Latin carpentaria meant a carpenter’s shop. The term ‘carpenter’s rule’ (a foldable ruler, suitable for carrying in a pocket) is from the 1550s.
 
Reference: Online Etymological Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/
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