Timmer

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. In Dutch, the woodwork or timber framing used in building a house or other structure
2. A Dutch term for carpentry or the wooden framework that forms part of a building
3. The Dutch word for timber construction, meaning woodwork assembled to form a building's frame

Etymology: Timmer is a word in Dutch and north German, where it means "timber" or wood, and that same noun has become a common family name. In the Netherlands and northern Germany, a surname like this often began as a nickname or occupational label, so a person known as the timber man might have worked with wood or lived near a stand of it. The name Timmer is therefore a plain, everyday word that happened to stick to families as they took on fixed surnames. A second, unrelated origin also produces the same spelling. In north Germany, Timmer is found as a variant of the names Thiemer and Dittmar. Those names trace back to the Proto-West Germanic elements "þeudu," meaning "people," and "mari," meaning "famous," so the surname can carry the sense of "famous among the people." The two sources coincide in spelling, which is why one surname can have two quite different histories.

Synonyms: timber, wood, lumber