Carpentrie

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The skilled trade of cutting, shaping and joining wood to construct buildings, furniture and other structures
2. The craft of working timber into frames, joinery and fittings for houses and other built works
3. Woodworking as a trade, involving the making and assembling of wooden structures and objects by hand

Etymology: Before it named a woodworker, the root of this word named a vehicle. Latin "carpentum" was a two-wheeled cart, and Late Latin "carpentarius" was the man who built such carts. Old French turned that into "charpentier," and English adopted it as "carpenter," a trade that gradually widened from wagon-making to building in wood generally. The ending comes from the Old French suffix "-erie," which marked a trade, a craft, or a place of work, as in "pottery" or "bakery." Added to "carpenter," it produced a name for the craft itself, the work a carpenter did. "Carpentrie" is the older English spelling of that noun. The Latin "carpentum" is thought to be a loan from Gaulish, though that link is uncertain.