Blacksmith - Origin of The Term

Origin of The Term

The term "blacksmith" comes from the activity of "forging" iron or the "black" metal - so named due to the color of the metal after being heated (a key part of the blacksmithing process). The term "forging" means to shape metal by heating and hammering. "Smith" is from the Proto-German "smithaz" meaning "skilled worker."

Read more about this topic:  Blacksmith

Famous quotes containing the words origin of, origin and/or term:

    For, though the origin of most of our words is forgotten, each word was at first a stroke of genius, and obtained currency, because for the moment it symbolized the world to the first speaker and to the hearer. The etymologist finds the deadest word to have been once a brilliant picture.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    Our theism is the purification of the human mind. Man can paint, or make, or think nothing but man. He believes that the great material elements had their origin from his thought.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    Children, I grant, should be innocent; but when the epithet is applied to men, or women, it is but a civil term for weakness.
    Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797)