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Re: [romconlang] Smithery



--- On Wed, 12/8/10, Adam Walker <carraxan@hidden.email> wrote:

>I'm trying to decide on the Carraxan words for smith, blacksmith,
>goldsmith, silversmith, coppersmith, tinsmith/tinker, etc. and I'm having
>trouble finding some of the Latin terms -- specifically silver~, and tin~
>but also the general term smith.

Faber seems to be the general word for smith.

Andrews & Freund give "vascularius" (a little vessel maker) for
"whitesmith, goldsmith, etc." Argentarius for silversmith. Aurarius for 
goldsmith. Excusor for coppersmith. Aerarius for bronzesmith.

See "A copious and critical Latin-English lexicon" at Google Books. It's
searchable!

>What do the various Romance languages do with these terms? Are they
>generally inherited words, (semi-)learned borrowings from Latin, borrowed
>from outside the family or internal coinings?

>I'm somewhat crippled ATM since all my vast collection of dictionaries are
>in storage until such time as I have my own place again.

>If Carraxan were to borrow any of these terms, the most likely sources 
>would be Greek or Arabic (though I suppose something might survive from >the Punic substrait, though that seems unlikely).

>Also, I notice that Latin has ferrarius for blacksmith and aerarius for
>coppersmith, but instead of the expected aurarius, for goldsmith has
>aurifex. Does the ~arius form exist alongside as a vulgarism? Do ~fex
>froms exist for the others as (?)poetic varients?

The above dictionary has both aurarius and aurifex. I think ferrarius
is more specifically an equine smith.

> All input welcome.

Padraic

> Adam