cutler

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English cuteler, also coteler,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman cuteler,^[4][2][5] from Old French coutelier (“knife-maker”),^[4][6][7][3] from Late Latin cultellārius,^{[8][9][10][4]} from Latin cultellus (“small knife”), a diminutive of culter (“knife, ploughshare”).^{[4][11][12][8]} Old French coutel (modern French couteau) is the same word as the Latin diminutive.^[13][12] The Latin word is also the source of cutlass and coulter.^[7][11][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

A craftsman who makes knives and other cutting instruments: before 1400, in a Middle English translation of Lanfranc's surgery,^[3][2] c. 1400 in Etymonline;^[4] the OED's first quotation is from about 1430, in Lydgate.^[6] As a surname, Cuteler, it is recorded from 1207,^[2][3] and the Anglo-Norman word from 1216.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its meaning: the maker, and later also the seller or repairer, of knives and similar utensils.^[6][8][12] Johnson (1755) defined it as one who makes or sells knives, quoting the "cutler's poetry" upon a knife in Shakespeare.^[14] The related cutlery is recorded from 1340.^[3]

Timeline

• 1207 – Cuteler, as a surname.^[2][3]
• before 1400 – a maker of knives.^[3][2]
• c. 1430 – one who makes, deals in or repairs knives.^[6]
• 1755 – Johnson defines it as one who makes or sells knives.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who makes, sells or repairs knives and other cutlery.^[8][15][6]

Related words

• cutlery
• cutlass
• coulter

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
6. ^ a b c d e Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
14. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
15. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins