the.com/shoemaker
The only profession whose children famously go barefoot by proverb and apparently by choice.
means A person who makes or repairs shoes and boots for a living.
from A plain compound word — 'shoe' plus 'maker' — from Old English scōh and the agent noun from macian, 'to make.' No mystery here, just centuries of honest trade naming: the people who made shoes were called shoe-makers, same logic as woodworker or cheesemaker. The surname Shoemaker (and its kin Schumacher, Shoesmith) comes straight from the occupation. The proverb about the shoemaker's barefoot children is the real curiosity — it's an old bit of folk wisdom noting that tradespeople often neglect for their own households the very goods they supply to everyone else.
- old name
- cordwainer, from cordovan leather of Córdoba
- cobbler distinction
- technically repairs shoes, does not make them
- guild history
- one of medieval Europe's oldest organized trades
- famous apprentice
- hans christian andersen's father was one