2842: Tinker and Beekeeper Oct 1, 2024

To tinker can refer to fixing up, or in a more old fashioned sense, a tinker was someone who either as a vagrant or as part of an itinerant people (like the Romani or especially Irish Travelers) made a living doing odd jobs place to place, but particularly in metal work. The original sense of the word was neither of these, but it was closer latter sense, in some ways, despite it being recognized now as an ethnic slur. The word originates from ‘tin’ plus an Old English suffix ‘-cere’ meaning ‘making; maintaining’, referring to a smith of tin, or other soft metals. 

This suffix is no longer productive, but is also see seen in the Old English ‘bēocere’ meaning ‘beekeeper’ which could have evolved as ‘*beeker’ but was influenced by ‘-keep’ in the sense of ‘to maintain’ as well.