Carpenter

​Do you ever wonder about the ‘car’ in carpenter?
 
Carpenter has origins in Proto-Indo-European (PIE) kers meaning to run, the source of several ancient words related to wheeled vehicles: Breton karr (chariot); Old Irish and Welsh carr (cart or wagon); and Gaulish karros, the source of Latin carrus (a two-wheeled Celtic war chariot). From Latin carrus we get Anglo-French carre which in the early 14th century became the English word car. (What do cars carry? Among other things they carry cargo, from the Spanish cargar meaning a load or burden which in turn also comes from the Latin carrus).
 
From PIE kers come Old Celtic carpentom (carriage) and Latin carpentum (wagon or two-wheeled carriage). In Latin, a person who made wagons or carts was called a carpentarius. Such a craftsperson was later known as a cartwright or a wainwright.
 
What does all this have to do with carpenters and carpentry today? Who knows?!
 
The Latin word for carpenter was lignarius (also, a housewright, woodworker, joiner), from Latin lignum (wood). The Greek word for carpenter was tekton (craftsman; in particular, a carpenter or woodworker), the origin of English words such as technical, technician, and technology. Some sources suggest that in ancient times the Hebrew word kharash-etsim (craftsman of wood, carpenter) or the related Aramaic word naggara (craftsman) may have also referred to someone who was wise and learned in a religious sense.
 
In ancient times, Greek tekton appears to have been translated into Latin as carpentarius. Why was tekton not translated as lignarius? I have not yet found an answer to this question.
 
The Old English word for carpenter was treowwyrtha (a tree wright or tree worker—like shipwright or millwright or wainwright). After the Norman invasion of England in 1066, the Anglo-French word carpenter (from Old North French carpentier), from Latin carpentarius, eventually replaced treowwyrtha. Again, what happened to lignarius?!
 
In brief, for whatever reasons Latin lignarius was replaced by carpentarius which became the French and later the English words for carpenter. The English word carpenter is first seen in the 12th century as a surname and is first seen meaning woodworker in the early 13th century.
 
By the way, PIE kers is also the source of the words course and curriculum; i.e., “How often does this course run?” or “Are you running that course next semester?” Speaking of running, PIE kers is also the source of the horse. The similarity of the ‘ours’ in course and the ‘ors’ in horse is not a coincidence—these are ancient remnants of the ‘ers’ in PIE kers.
 
Image: https://www.wikiart.org/en/carl-larsson/in-the-carpenter-shop-1905
 
Reference: Online Etymological Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/
David’s Wordshop Blog: http://www.davidtickner.ca/blog
www.davidtickner.ca