Hemmer

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person who folds and sews the edge of cloth to prevent unraveling
2. Someone who finishes the edges of textiles by turning and stitching them
3. An individual skilled in creating hems to secure fabric boundaries

Etymology: "Hemmer" is a plain English formation: the verb "hem" plus the agent suffix "-er," meaning one who does the hemming. The verb "hem" is native and old, descending from Old English "hemm," which was used for the border or edge of a piece of cloth, so the trade name traces back to the simple act of finishing a raw edge. The suffix does most of the work of the history. The ending "-er" comes down from Old English "-ere," which itself goes back through Proto-Germanic to the Latin "-arius," an element used to form nouns denoting a person connected with a task. Latin "-arius" passed into Old French as "-ier," and English later borrowed that pattern, while "-er" also developed natively in English. Because the "-er" ending is so productive, English speakers can attach it to almost any verb, which is how a worker's title like this one could be made from a common household word.

Synonyms: seamster, tailor