Pargeter

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A skilled tradesman who applies ornamental plasterwork, often decorating the exterior walls of buildings with patterned finishes
2. Someone who makes decorative coatings of plaster or mortar on walls, especially the ornamental rendering seen on old houses
3. A craftworker trained to create raised patterns and textured plaster surfaces on building facades and interior walls

Etymology: A pargeter is a craftsman who applies pargeting, the decorative plaster work that covers the outside walls of timber-framed buildings, most famously in East Anglia and the south-east of England. The name is simply the noun "parget" with the agent suffix "-er" added, so it means "one who pargets." Plasterers who worked this way were known by the trade name for the work they did, a pattern common in English craft vocabulary where the job's name gives rise to the worker's name. The base word "parget" came into English from Old French "parjeter," meaning to throw over or cast across, which suggests the original idea was of plaster being thrown or spread onto a surface. Over time the word narrowed from general plastering to the specific ornamental kind, with the raised patterns and motifs that still decorate many old houses.

Synonyms: plasterer