locksmith

Etymology

It is formed from English lock + smith,^[2][3][4] in Middle English loksmith, from lok and smith.^[5][6] The first part, the fastening, is from Old English loc (“bolt, fastening”), akin to Old Norse lok (“fastening, lock”) and German Loch (“hole”);^[3] the second, the metalworker, is from Old English smiþ, from Proto-Germanic *smiþaz.^[3][7] The OED compares lockyer.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A maker of locks: about 1200, in a record in the Liber S. Marie de Calchou.^[2] The Middle English Dictionary's earliest examples, from 1226, are bynames such as Iohannes loksmith in Irish documents,^[6] and Dictionary.com notes that the word is first attested as a surname.^[8] Etymonline dates it to the early 13th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In the Middle English period the word appears mostly as a byname or surname: Reaney and Wilson list Walter le Loksmyth in 1255 and several more in the late 13th century.^[9][6] The Middle English Dictionary defines it as a maker of locks and keys,^[6] and in 1449 the locksmiths of Norwich were counted among the smiths' crafts, with the bladesmiths and lorimers.^[6] Modern definitions add repairing and fitting locks.^[2][5][4] The art itself, locksmithery, is named from the early 19th century.^[10][4] As a surname Locksmith was found mainly in Suffolk in 1881.^[11]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – a maker of locks.^[2]
• 1440 – loksmythe, glossing Latin serefaber, in the Promptorium Parvulorum.^[6]
• 1449 – the locksmiths' craft named among the smiths' crafts in Norwich.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who makes, repairs or fits locks and keys: We called a locksmith after losing the front-door key.^[5][2][4][6]

Word family

• locksmithery
• locksmithing

Related words

• lock
• smith
• lockyer

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f g h 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)
7. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ Reaney, P. H.; Wilson, R. M. (1991), A Dictionary of English Surnames, 3rd ed., London: Routledge
10. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Hanks, Patrick; Coates, Richard; McClure, Peter, eds. (2016), The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland, Oxford: Oxford University Press