Etymologie, Etimología, Étymologie, Etimologia, Etymology, (griech.) etymología, (lat.) etymologia, (esper.) etimologio
UK Vereinigtes Königreich Großbritannien und Nordirland, Reino Unido de Gran Bretaña e Irlanda del Norte, Royaume-Uni de Grande-Bretagne et d'Irlande du Nord, Regno Unito di Gran Bretagna e Irlanda del Nord, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, (esper.) Britujo
Arbeit, Trabajo, Travail, Lavoro, Work, (esper.) laboro

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berufskunde
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bodger
botcher (W3)

Tuesday, 9 October 2007

A Bodgers Blog

BODGERS Were the 19th century itinerant workers in the Chiltern beechwoods to the North West of London who made the sticks, legs and stretchers to supply the Windsor chair industry at High Wycombe. (Some also worked from home in a shed at the end of the garden like I do)

Often they lived and set up a workshop deep within the forest rather than fell the timber and take it home with them. So only finished components left the forest.

They used very few and simple hand tools and were expert craftsmen.

Unfortunately the term has completely changed its meaning in the last 100 years and a "bodger" is now someone who is inept and ruins a job.

I'm not a bodger because I make all manner of items on my pole lathe - try Googling treewright and see what comes up

The purpose of this, the official Association of Polelathe Turners & Greenwood Workers web site, is to promote green woodworking and all its associated crafts so that once again the woodlands of the world are nurtured and valued as a source of employment and enjoyment.
...

"bodger": Brit. dial. [n] a chair-leg turner Austral. slang [adj] inferior, worthless; (of names) false, assumed "bodgery": [fr. bodger < bodge, var. of botch] rare (pre-web, that is) botched work, bungling

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botch
to botch something (W3)

• dt. "Pfuscherei" = engl. "botched job"
• dt. "Stümperei" = engl. "botching"
• dt. "vermasselt" = engl. "botches"
• dt. "vermurkste" = engl. "botched"

Botch, an angry tumor.

20.04.2011 a botched job

30.11.2009 to botch something

botch up

Botches, Failures, and Successes

botched

botch | botcher | botchi

botch (2) | botch'd (2) | botcher (1) | botcher's (2) | botches (1) | botchy (1)

a botched job

a botched job

botch | botcher | botchy

• botch (n.) 2 tumour, boil, ulcer
• botchy (adj.) enveloped in sores [botches], tumour-covered

botch | botchy

Word Unit: botch + (of uncertain origin: to spoil; to bungle, to cause something to fail through carelessness or incompetence).

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Carpenter (W3)

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Coachman - Rose

coachman on the box

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crochet (W3)

Crochet Pattern Central is an online directory of free crochet pattern links. Updated weekly, the directory offers free crochet patterns encompassing a wide variety of categories, including holiday, clothing, doilies, afghans, patriotic items, and much, much more! Begin your browsing by category at our index, or by term, making use of our site search provided below.

Not yet skilled in the basics of crochet, but posessing the desire to learn? No problem! Check out the Crochet Instructions Tutorials page, and begin learning today! Discouraged by your crocheting endeavours? Check out our Encouragement and Testimonials page, and learn how others overcame their crocheting tribulations. Stop in at Tips 'n Tricks to learn many helpful hints submitted by other avid crocheters.

Ma recherche : Résultats dans la presse en version papier (Plus d'infos sur la recherche)

• Sabrina Crochet Actuel
• Elena Crochet d'art
• Ewa Crochet
• Crochet créations
• Sabrina Filet au crochet
• Mailles Crochet
• PROMO Crochet
• Diana créatif
• Diana Ouvrages
• Mailles Hors-Série
• Tricoter, c'est tendance...
• PROMO Mailles Hors-Série
• PROMO Vivre Maison au féminin / Pâtisserie façon grand-mère / Elena ouvrages
• PROMO Idées Tricot

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factor (W3)

• "factor" (n.) early 15c., "agent", "deputy", from Middle French "facteur" - "agent", "representative", from Latin "factor" - "doer or maker", agent noun from pp. stem of "facere" - "to do" (see "factitious"). Sense of "circumstance producing a result" is from 1816.
• "factor" (v.) 1610s, "act as an agent", from "factor" (n.). The use in mathematics is attested from 1837. Related: "Factored"; "factoring".

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job (W3)

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operose
*op (W3)

...
Etymology: classical Latin "operosus" involving much effort, laborious, industrious, painstaking, "oper-", "opus" "work" + "-osus" "-ose" suffix. Compare earlier "operous" adj.
...

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opulent (W3)

• dt. "Oper"
• dt. "Operation"
• dt. "operieren"
• dt. "Optimum" = "das Beste" = "beste Arbeit"
• dt. "opulent" = "üppig" = "vermögend"
• engl. "cooperate" = dt. "zusammenarbeiten"
• engl. "copious" = dt. "reichlich", "ergiebig", "reich", "produktiv", "fruchtbar"
• engl. "copy" = dt. "Kopie" (zu lat. "copia" = dt. "Fülle", "Vorrat", "Menge", aus lat. "co-" = dt. "zusammen", "mit" und lat. "ops", "opis" = dt. "Macht")
• engl. "cornucopia" = dt. "Füllhorn"
• engl. "inure" = dt. "angewendet werden"
• engl. "maneuver" = dt. "Manöver" (= "Handwerk")
• engl. "manure" = "Dünger", "Mist".
• engl. "officinal" = dt. "offizinell"
• engl. "omnibus" = dt. "Omnibus", "Sammelband"
• engl. "omnium-gatherum" = dt. "Sammelsurium", "bunte Gesellschaft"
• engl. "opera" = "Oper" = "(Musik-)Werk"
• engl. "operate" = dt. "arbeiten", "in Betrieb sein", "funktionieren"
• engl. "operose" = "weitschweifig", "fleissig", "viel Mühe erfordernd"
• engl. "opulence" = dt. "Reichtum", "Fülle", "Überfluß"
• engl. "stover" = dt. "Futter"
• frz. "Oeuvre" = "Werk", "Arbeit".
• frz. "ouvrage" = "Arbeit", "Werk"
• frz. "ouvragé" = "kunstvoll gearbeitet", "fein gearbeitet"
• lat. "copia" ("*co-op-") = dt. "reicher Vorrat", "Fülle"
• lat. "oper-" = "Arbeit", "Werk"
• lat. "opera" = dt. "Arbeit"
• lat. "operarius" = dt. "Arbeiter", "Tagelöhner", "Handlanger"
• lat. "operosus" = "mühsam", "gewissenhaft", "tätig"
• lat. "opus" = "Arbeit", "Werk"
• Die von den Sabinern übernommene römische Göttin der Fruchtbarkeit hieß entsprechend "Ops", "Opis".

opulent

ENTRY: "*op-"

| opulenter | opulentia | opulento | opulentus | opulentus#2

opulent (2)

opulent

opulent

• "opulent" rich and superior in quality
• "opulently" in a sumptuous and opulent manner

Inside the world's most opulent private jets

opulent

opus

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shambles (W3)

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tinker's dam
tinker's damn (W3)

"not worth a tinker's dam"

A "dam" was a small Indian coin, so the expression "not worth a dam", which became common a couple of hundred years ago, is self-explanatory.

But the spelling "damn" was and still is common, shadowing the much older phrase "not worth a curse" (or "not worth a kerse") which simply indicated that "curses" were worth very little. So it is likely that "not worth a dam" immediately gained resonance because of the older "curse" phrase and the operative word probably was taken - by those who had no experience of Indian coins - to be "damn" anyway.

The Irish version of the travelling people known as "Gypsies" is "tinkers". There appears to be no relationship between them, although the stereotypes associated with them are similar.

The "tinkers" are ethnic Irish, not Romanies, and supposedly descended from 12 families who were dispossessed by Cromwell centuries ago and started travelling because they had no place to live.

The term "tinkers" is politically incorrect these days. They are now known as "travelling people" or "travellers". But originally they became known as "tinkers" because (like "Gypsies") they were travelling tinsmiths [dt. "Blechschmied", "Klempne", engl. "tin" = dt. "Zinn"] and horse traders. When they arrived in a village the locals would bring their utensils to be repaired, so they were, to a certain extent, valued members of the community.

The 20th century finished that: motor vehicles replaced horses and aluminium pots and pans replaced tin ones. The "tinkers" lost their perceived value and their reputation declined sharply: "tinkers" were worth nothing, in many people's minds.

Hence "a tinker's damn" was worth even less than an ordinary one.

But (drawing a deep breath) a "dam" is also a small piece of clay which is used in mending pots and pans. In this context it is related to the "dams" that store water: a "tinsmith's dam" would be used to prevent molten metal from running to places it wasn't welcome.

Just to complicate matters, there is the slight possibility that the word "damn" in the tinker's version of the phrase may also relate to horses. As I said, they were horse traders, and in fact often still are. My sister in Dublin used to dread their arrival because they would let their horses run free and she didn't appreciate having her flowers devoured by big shaggy beasts of which she was wary.

So "not worth a tinker's dam" could also be a reflection of the supposed value of the horses the tinkers traded.

To summarise: the "dam" of the "tinkers" may or may not have preceded the Indian coin in terms of people's use of the phrase. The two are so intermingled that one can't be sure any more, but it is likely that the Indian reference strengthened the tinker's one.

"tinker's damn" or "tinker's dam"

the least value or merit; nothing or anything at all:

It's not worth a tinker's damn.

IDIOMS ABOUT TINKER'S DAMN

care / give a tinker's damn, to have or feel little or no concern; be unaffected or unmoved:

I don't care a tinker's damn for their opinions.

ORIGIN OF TINKER'S DAMN

First recorded in 1830–40; from tinkers' alleged habit of cursing frequently (hence weakening the force of a curse)
...

"tinker" (n.): "mender of kettles, pots, pans, etc.," mid-13c. (as a surname), of uncertain origin. Some connect the word with the sound made by light hammering on metal. The verb meaning "to keep busy in a useless way" is first found 1650s.

"Tinker's damn" = "something slight and worthless" is from 1824, probably preserving tinkers' reputation for free and casual use of profanity; more elaborate derivations exist, but they seem to be just-so stories lacking the slightest historical evidence.

"not worth a tinker's damn" or "not worth a tinker's dam" {adj. phr.}, {informal} Not worth anything; valueless. * /As a bricklayer he was not worth a tinker's damn./ * /I am not familiar with the subject so my opinion would not be worth a tinker's dam./

...
Etymology: Tinker is of uncertain origin, but originally referred to someone who repaired kettles, pots and pans. Some suggest that the word is connected to the sound made by light hammering on metal.

The word is also used in the British expression "not give a tinker's damn" or "not give a tinker's curse", which means to not care at all about (I don't give a tinker's damn what the neighbor's think, I can paint my house whatever colour I want!)
...

A tinker's damn

Something that is insignificant or worthless.

There's some debate over whether this phrase should be "tinker's dam" - a small "dam" to hold solder, used by tinkers when mending pans, or "tinker's damn" - "a tinker's curse", considered of little significance because tinkers were reputed to swear habitually.

If we go back to 1877, in the Practical Dictionary of Mechanics, Edward Knight puts forward this definition:

"Tinker's-dam - a wall of dough raised around a place which a plumber desires to flood with a coat of solder. The material can be but once used; being consequently thrown away as worthless."

That version of events has gone into popular folklore and many people believe it. After all, any definition written as early has 1877 has to be true doesn't it?

Knight may well have been a fine mechanic but there has to be some doubt about his standing as an etymologist. There is no corroborative evidence for his speculation and he seems to have fallen foul of the curse of folk etymologists - plausibility. If an ingenious story seems to neatly fit the bill then it must be true. Well, in this case it isn't. The Victorian preference of "dam" over "damn" may also owe something to coyness over the use of a profanity in polite conversation.

That interpretation of the phrase was well enough accepted in Nevada in 1884 for the Reno Gazette to report its use in the defence of a Methodist preacher who was accused of the profanity of using the term "tinker's dam":

"It isn't profane any more to say "tinker's dam". The minister stated that a "tinker's dam" was a "dam" made by itinerant menders of tinware on a pewter plate to contain the solder".

The same view was expressed in the Fitchburg Sentinel newspaper in 1874.

The problem with that interpretation is that all those accounts ignore an earlier phrase - "a tinker's curse" (or "a tinker's cuss"), which exemplified the reputation tinkers had for habitual use of profanity. This example from John Mactaggart's "The Scottish Gallovidian Encyclopedia", 1824, pre-dates Knight's version in the popular language:

"A tinkler's curse she did na care what she did think or say."

In the Grant County Herald, Wisconsin, 1854, we have:

"There never was a book gotten up by authority and State pay, that was worth a tinker's cuss".

So, we can forget about plumbing. The earlier phrase simply migrated the short distance from "curse" to "damn" to give us the proper spelling of the phrase - "tinker's damn".

"Not worth a tinker's dam"

Meaning: This means that something is worthless and dates back to when someone would travel around the countryside repairing things such as a kitchen pot with a hole in it. He was called a "tinker". His "dam" was used to stop the flow of soldering material being used to close the hole. Of course his 'trade' is passé, thus his "dam" is worth nothing.

...
"I don't give a tinker's damn" means that the speaker does not care at all, "tinker's damn" being a very old slang synonym for something "utterly inconsequential". There are two theories about "tinker's damn", but before we get to them, a little discourse on Medieval cookware.

Before the advent of mass-produced kitchen implements, pots and pans were quite expensive, and handed down for generations. Thus, a hole in the stewpot was a calamity, and repair, not replacement, was called for. This was the job of a "tinker" (possibly from the "tinkling" sound of pots clinking together, but more likely from the Middle English "tinnkere", "tin worker"). Tinkers were itinerant handymen who made their living mending pots and pans and generally fixing household items.

Though tinkers were performing a useful service, they were held in low esteem, and "tinker" was for several centuries also a synonym for "vagrant", "rogue" and even "thief". Tinkers probably used earthy language, probably with abandon, and thus the first theory. Tinkers swore so often, it is said, that their oaths lost the power to shock, and "not worth a tinker's damn" came to mean "worthless".

The second theory maintains that the phrase should be "tinker's dam", not "damn". A tinker's "dam", goes this theory, was a small piece of dough, clay or paper used to block the hole in a pot while solder was applied. When the job was done, the "dam" was discarded, and thus "tinker's dam" came to mean something utterly inconsequential.

And now, the envelope, please. Theory number one is almost certainly correct, and "tinker's damn", which appeared around 1839, is probably simply a variant on "not worth a damn", which also means "something utterly worthless". Theory number two, which was first proposed in 1877, was probably a prissy Victorian attempt to sanitize the "damn" into "dam" with a cute but baseless story.

"tinker's damn"

"Not worth a tinker’s damn" is a phrase that is often uttered, although most people who say it nowadays have no idea what a tinker is. There is also considerable confusion over the word "damn" in this phrase, which is often misspelled "dam".

A tinker was an itinerant tradesman who mended pots and pans. The variant "tinkler", common in Scotland, the north of England, and Ireland, appears as an English word in a Latin manuscript, Carta Willelmi Regis, from c.1175.

Que iacet inter terram serlon incisoris et terram Jacobi tinkler.

(Which lies between the land of Serlo the engraver and the land of James the tinkler.)

The name "Editha le Tynekere" appears in a manuscript from c.1265 (interesting that this is a reference to a tradeswoman) and Tomkyn þe Tinkere is a character in William Langland’s 1362 Piers Plowman (A text).

The etymology of "tinker" is not known for certain. One suggestion is that it is echoic, from either the sound of a bell that the tinker rang to announce he was in the neighborhood (perhaps the name "Tinkerbell" from Peter Pan is an allusion to this belief) or from the tinking sound a tinker made as he worked on the pots and pans. Another is that it is from the verb "to tink", meaning to work in metal. Both are problematic as "tinker" and "tinkler" predate any known appearance of "tink" or "tinkle" in the sense of a bell or metallic sound or the verb "to tink". It is more likely that these come from "tinker", not the other way around.

A third suggestion is that it comes from the word "tin", the material with which the "tinker" worked. But there is no strong evidence to support this other than a similarity of form and a logical semantic connection.

As to the phrase "tinker’s damn", a variant form appears as early as 1824 in John MacTaggart’s The Scottish Gallovidian Encyclopedia:

A tinkler’s curse she did na care What she did think or say.

The more familiar form is in Henry Thoreau’s Journal of 25 April 1839:

‘Tis true they are not worth a "tinker’s damn".

Tinkers evidently had a reputation for cursing, like many tradesmen of that or any era, and a "tinker’s damn" was not worth much because tinkers damned everything.

Some bowdlerize the term and spell it "tinker’s dam", citing elaborate and unlikely explanations as to why it should be spelled this way. Evidently they are fond of the phrase but too squeamish to use a scandalous word like "damn". The first and most complicated of these explanations makes its appearance in Edward Knight’s 1877 "The Practical Dictionary of Mechanics":

"Tinker’s-dam", a wall of dough raised around a place which a plumber desires to flood with a coat of solder. The material can be but once used; being consequently thrown away as worthless, it has passed into a proverb, usually involving the wrong spelling of the otherwise innocent word "dam".

Another explanation is that the "dam" refers to the tinker’s horse, a female horse being known by that word. This explanation is utterly false. Not only is there no known connection to horses in the history of the term, but "dam" does not mean female horse; it means mother. A horse has a sire and a dam — a father and a mother.

It’s clear from the early appearance of "tinkler’s curse", that the "damn" in question is a four-letter word.

(Source: Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd Edition)

"Tinker’s damn"

There are two theories about this one. One points to the very low social status of tinkers, itinerant menders of pots and pans, and to their well-known tendency to include a swearword in every sentence. So to say that something “isn’t worth a tinker’s damn” is to say that it’s of no value at all, not worth even a moment’s consideration.

A more ingenious explanation was put forward in the latter part of the nineteenth century: when a tinker was soldering a pot, he would make a small wall out of bread dough around the place he was to flood with solder in order to stop it from spreading. After he had finished, he would naturally throw the dough away as being of no further use, so that “a tinker’s dam” was equally something of no value.

A century ago, the compilers of the First Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary were scornful of this attempt to make a simple matter more complicated, though it is still to be found in current works on phrase histories. It speaks to that part of us that wants to convert the mundane to the magical, to find something of mystery and interest in even the most ordinary of expressions.

You may gather that I consider the simpler story to be much the more likely. It is supported by variations such as "tinker’s curse" and "tinker’s cuss".

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work (W3)

• altgriech. "organon" = engl. "instrument", "tool"
• dt. "Allergie"
• dt. "allergisch"
• dt. "Chirurg"
• dt. "Chirurgie"
• dt. "Energie", im 18. Jh. entlehnt aus frz. "énergie", spätlat. "energia", griech. "en-érgeia" = dt. "wirkende Kraft", zu griech. "érgon" = dt. "Werk", "Wirken", griech. "en-ergós" = dt. "einwirkend"
• dt. "energisch"
• dt. "Georg" = wörtlich dt. "Erdarbeiter", der Name wurde gebildet zu griech. "Georgios", lat. "Georgius", zu griech. "georgós" = dt. "Landmann", "Bauer" und setzt sich zusammen aus griech. "ge" = dt. "Erde" und griech. "ergon" = dt. "arbeiten"
• dt. "Lethargie" = dt. "krankheitsbedingte Schlafsucht", "Trägheit", "Gleichgültigkeit", "Teilnahmslosigkeit", "Interesselosigkeit", im 16. Jh. eingeführt zu griech.-lat. "lethargía", zu griech. "lethargos" = dt. "schlummerähnlicher Zustand", aus griech. "lethe" = dt. "Vergessen" und griech. "argós" ("*a-uergós") = dt. "untätig", "träge"
• dt. "Liturgie"
• Duden - Das Herkunftswörterbuch, 4. Aufl. Mannheim 2007 [CD-ROM]
• engl. "allergy" = wörtlich engl. "other working"
• engl. "argon", mit griech. "a-" = engl. "not" und griech. "ergon" = engl. "work"
• engl. "demiurge" = wörtlich engl. "public worker"
• engl. "dramaturge" = wörtlich engl. "drama worker"
• engl. "energy" aus "en-" = "at" und "erg" = engl. "work", wörtlich "at work", "active"
• engl. "ergative"
• engl. "ergonomics"
• engl. "ergophobia")
• engl. "George", zu griech. "ge" = engl. "earth" und griech. "ergon" = engl. "work", wörtlich engl. "earth worker"
• engl. "lethargy" mit griech. "leth" = engl. "to forget" und "argos" = engl. "not working", "idle", mit griech. "a-" = engl. "not" und griech. "ergon" = engl. "work"
• engl. "liturgy" = wörtlich engl. "public work", "public worship")
• engl. "metallurgy" = wörtlich engl. "metal work"
• engl. "organ" (musical instrument, body parts, and other senses)
• engl. "organic"
• engl. "organism".
• engl. "organize" = wörtlich engl. "to put in working order"
• engl. "orgy" = wörtlich engl. "secret rites"
• engl. "surgery", zu altengl. "chirurgerie", zu griech. "kheir" = engl. "hand" und griech. "ergon" = engl. "work"
• engl. "synergy" = wörtlich engl. "working together"
• engl. "thaumaturge" = wörtlich engl. "wonder worker"
• engl. "wright" = engl. "worker", "maker"
• engl. "wrought iron" = dt. "Schmiedeeisen"
• engl. "wrought" = dt. "arbeiten" (which is an old past-tense form of "work" and not a past-tense form of "wreak" as some mistakenly believe)
• frz. "boulevard" aus germ. "bulwark" (/k/ zu /d/)
• frz. "énergique"
• germ. "bulwark" = wörtlich engl. "bole work", "tree work", dt. "Bollwerk", "Bohlen-Werk"
• griech. "ergon" = dt. "Arbeit", "Werk", "Tat"

An Etymological Workout

If you’re like me and are still trying to get back into the swing of things after a nice holiday break, you might be having a little trouble focusing on "work". You might even be suffering from a mild case of "ergophobia", or the "fear of work". So here’s some etymology to distract you.

"Work" comes from the Proto-Germanic "*werkam", which in turn comes from the Proto-Indo-European "*wérgom", ultimately from the root "*werg" = "to make". In Ancient Greek, "*wérgom" gave rise to "ergon", which gives us "energy", from the prefix "en-" = "at" + "erg" = "work" ("at work", "active"), as well as terms like "ergonomics" and "ergative" (and, yes, "ergophobia"). It also apparently gives us the name "George", a name meaning "farmer" or "husbandman", which comes from "ge" = "earth" + "ergon" = "work", literally "earth worker".

Forms of "ergon" also gave us "surgery" (from earlier "chirurgerie", from the Greek "kheir" "hand" + "ergon" "work"), "metallurgy" ("metal work"), "liturgy" ("public work" or "public worship"), "thaumaturge" ("wonder worker"), "dramaturge" ("drama worker"), "demiurge" ("public worker", from a different root meaning "public" than the one in "liturgy"), "argon" (from the prefix "a-" "not" + "ergon" "work", because "argon" is inert), "lethargy" (from "leth" "to forget" + "argos" "not working", "idle"), "allergy" ("other working"), and "synergy" ("working together").

A variant of the PIE "*werg", "*worg", also produced the Ancient Greek "organon", meaning "instrument" or "tool", which eventually made its way into English as "organ" (meaning the musical instrument, the body parts, and other senses). From this we also get the verb "organize", which originally meant "to put in working order", as well as other derived forms like "organic" and "organism".

It also gave us "orgy", which originally meant "secret rites", probably from the sense of some kind of work performed for one’s gods. The Online Etymology Dictionary says: “OED says of the ancient rites that they were ‘celebrated with extravagant dancing, singing, drinking, etc.,’ which gives ‘etc.’ quite a workout.” (This root did not, however, give us the word "orgasm".)

The Proto-Indo-European "*wérgom" also yielded the Germanic "bulwark" (literally "bole work" or "tree work"), which originally meant a defensive wall made of logs. This word was borrowed into English either from Middle Dutch or from Middle High German. It was also borrowed into French and became "boulevard", with an anomalous change from /k/ to /d/ at the end. It eventually came to mean a tree-lined street and was then borrowed back into English.

And, of course, it also yields the English "wright", meaning "worker" or "maker", and the archaic "wrought", which is an old past-tense form of "work" and not a past-tense form of "wreak" as some mistakenly believe.
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"work" (n.)

Old English "weorc", "worc" = "something done", "discrete act performed by someone", "action" (whether voluntary or required), "proceeding", "business"; "that which is made or manufactured", "products of labor", also "physical labor", "toil"; "skilled trade", "craft", or "occupation"; "opportunity of expending labor in some useful or remunerative way"; also "military fortification", from Proto-Germanic "*werka-" = "work" (source also of Old Saxon, Old Frisian, Dutch "werk", Old Norse "verk", Middle Dutch "warc", Old High German "werah", German "Werk", Gothic "gawaurki"), from PIE "*werg-o-", suffixed form of root "*werg-" = "to do".

Meaning "physical effort", "exertion" is from c. 1200; meaning "scholarly labor" or its productions is from c. 1200; meaning "artistic labor" or its productions is from c. 1200. Meaning "labor as a measurable commodity" is from c. 1300. Meaning "embroidery", "stitchery", "needlepoint" is from late 14c.

"Work of art" attested by 1774 as "artistic creation", earlier (1728) "artifice", "production of humans" (as opposed to nature). "Work ethic" recorded from 1959. To be "out of work" = "unemployed" is from 1590s. To "make clean work of" is from c. 1300; to "make short work of" is from 1640s.

Proverbial expression "many hands make light work" is from c. 1300. To "have (one's) work cut out for one" is from 1610s; to "have it prepared and prescribed", hence, to "have all one can handle". "Work in progress" is from 1930 in a general sense, earlier as a specific term in accountancy and parliamentary procedure.

"work" (v.)

a fusion of Old English "wyrcan" (past tense "worhte", past participle "geworht") = "prepare", "perform", "do", "make", "construct", "produce"; "strive after" (from Proto-Germanic "*wurkjanan"); and Old English "wircan" (Mercian) = "to operate", "function", "set in motion", a secondary verb formed relatively late from Proto-Germanic noun "*werkan" (see "work" (n.)).

Sense of "perform physical labor" was in Old English, as was sense "ply one's trade" and "exert creative power", "be a creator". Transitive sense "manipulate (physical substances) into a desired state or form" was in Old English. Meaning "have the expected or desired effect" is from late 14c. In Middle English also "perform sexually" (mid-13c.). Related: "Worked" (15c.); "wrought"; "working".

To "work in" = "insert", "introduce" or "intermix", as one material with another, is by 1670s; hence the figurative sense "cause to enter or penetrate by repeated efforts". To "work up" (transitive) = "bring into some state or condition" is by 1590s of material things, 1690s of immaterial things; hence "bring by labor or special effort to a higher state or condition" (1660s). The meaning "excite", "stir up", "raise", "rouse" is from c. 1600. To "work over" = "beat up", "thrash" is from 1927. To "work against" = "attempt to subvert" is from late 14c.

To "work out" = "bring about or procure (a result) by continued labor or effort" is by 1530s. As "bring to a fuller or finished state", "elaborate", "develop", by 1821. Meaning "to solve", "calculate the solution to" a problem or question is by 1848. Intransitive sense "make its way out" is from c. 1600; the sense of "succeed" is attested by 1909. Sense of "exhaust (a mine, etc.) by working it" is from 1540s. The pugilistic sense of "box for practice" (rather than in a contest) is by 1927, hence the general sense of "practice", "rehearse" (1929) and that of "take exercise" (by 1948).

Words related to "work":

• *werg-
• artwork
• beadwork
• breastwork
• brickwork
• brushwork
• bulwark
• busy-work
• case-work
• clockwork
• earthwork
• field-work
• framework
• fretwork
• groundwork
• guess-work
• handiwork
• handwork
• homework
• housework
• interwork
• inwork
• irk
• ironwork
• knotwork
• labor
• lark
• latticework
• leg-work
• make
• make-work
• master-work
• meshwork
• millwork
• needlework
• network
• night-work
• outwork
• overwork
• paperwork
• patchwork
• piecework
• play
• rework
• roadwork
• scrollwork
• stonework
• teamwork
• watch-work
• waterworks
• wickerwork
• woodwork
• workable
• workaday
• workaholic
• workaround
• workbook
• workday
• worker
• workflow
• workforce
• workhorse
• workhouse
• working
• workload
• workman
• workout
• workplace
• works
• worksheet
• workshop
• workstation
• work-up
• wright
• wrought

work

"Work"; and "Werk" (German) "Work"; "Warm"; "Worm"; and "Wurst"

"Work" is from the German "Werk" (meaning the same), which is etymologically related to the "warm" and "wurst" ("Sausage"). "Worm", in turn, comes from "wurst".

"Work"
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The original meaning, first recorded more than a millennium ago, was the more general one of what a person does, or something that is to be done, "an act", "deed", "proceeding" or "business”, as the Oxford English Dictionary puts it. This merged into the sense of those things which a person has to do: "one’s tasks", "employment", "occupation" or "business". By an obvious extension, it also referred to things which were made as the result of one’s labours, so leading to phrases such as "a work of art" and to a series of compounds such as "brickwork", "handiwork", and "firework" as well as numerous other senses implying some act of creation.

From the sixteenth century, it came also to be used — in the plural — for the place where some activity was carried on, such as a factory. As our most general word for doing something, and for something done, it has and continues to have an enormous range of applications.

The word derives from an ancient root which is also the source of the Greek "ergon", which itself turns up in English words such as "ergonomics", in the old CGS unit of work, the "erg", and also in "energy". A more hidden link is in some words ending in "-rgy", such as "metallurgy", "thaumaturgy", and "liturgy", which contain the Greek "ergos", "worker", "working". "Organ", "argon", "surgery", and "orgy" are other words from the same distant root.

Another derived word is "wright" (formed by transposing the "r" and the vowel in work), which was once commonly applied to a "craftsman", though it now only survives in compounds like "wheelwright", "shipwright", and "playwright".

Grammarians say that the verb "work" was once a strong one, with a past tense of "wrought" (so in the Bible we have "what hath God wrought", most famously transmitted by Samuel Morse as the first electric telegraph message in 1844), though it looks equally likely to be the past tense of the verb form of "wright". Now it survives mainly in "wrought iron", cast iron that has been reworked to make it more ductile, itself a near-obsolete material (there’s only one place in Britain still making it, the Ironbridge Gorge Museum in Shropshire).
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