Hammermen

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Workers who wield hammers to shape or forge metal ; members of certain medieval craft guilds of metalworkers, especially in Scotland
2. Tradesmen who work metal by striking it with a hammer ; the members of old metalworking incorporations, particularly in Scottish towns
3. People who beat and shape metal with hammers as their trade ; the craftsmen belonging to historic guilds that governed metal-working crafts

Etymology: "Hammermen" is simply the plural of "hammerman," so the history of the singular carries over. The word is a plain compound: "hammer," which descends from Old English "hamor" and reaches back to a Proto-Germanic "hamaraz," joined to "man," from Old English "mann." The second element has a broader sense than the modern English "man," which in older usage could denote any person, so the compound describes someone who works with a hammer, the sense a reader would expect. The pairing is transparent because both parts were already ordinary English words long before they were joined. Nothing about the formation is coined or disputed: it is a straightforward combination of an existing tool name with a general word for a person, and the meaning follows directly from the parts.