Skynnere

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A tradesman who strips, cures and dresses the hides of animals, or who deals in their pelts
2. An archaic term for a craftsman who processes animal skins into leather or fur and sells them
3. Someone whose trade was preparing raw animal hides for use, or dealing in the furs and leather made from them

Etymology: "Skynnere" is a Middle English trade name meaning a dealer in animal skins, the person who bought hides from butchers and farmers and sold them on to tanners and leatherworkers. It descends from Old English "scinnere," formed from "scinn" (skin, hide) with the agent suffix "-ere," the same ending found in "baker" or "miller," so it names the person who deals in the thing. The "-ere" ending sits behind many Middle English trade words, which is why the term reads so transparently once you see the parts. The word is now obsolete, and its history is mostly plain. Its spelling shifted through the Middle English period as the Old English "sc" sound softened, and "skinner" gradually took over as the standard form, which is why the modern word for a skin-worker sounds familiar while meaning something slightly different. Only the basic sense of the trade survives in the modern term.