smith-farrier

Updated: May 17, 2025

Of words which have risen in the world, the French 'marechal' affords us an excellent example. 'Marechal, as Howell has said, 'at first was the name of a smith-farrier, or one that dressed horses' which indeed it is still 'but it climbed by degrees to that height that the chiefest commanders of the gendarmery are come to be called marshals. But if this has risen, our 'alderman' has fallen.

Richard Chenevix Trench - On the Study of Words