[overscore]

The formation etymology (whether from tin or onomatopoeia) is uncertain. The part that is certain is the semantic chronology. The noun tinker was used from at least the 13th century for an itinerant mender of pots, the Travellers. By the 16th century it became a slur for Travellers.

The verb to tinker doesn’t appear until the mid-17th century, first meaning to work as a tinker and only later coming to mean what you're familiar with.

So while the root word’s sound-shape is debated, the order of senses is clear: the Traveller sense comes first, the modern “casual repair” sense comes later and was derived from it. This is the etymological order given in all sources, eg https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tinker

[gs17]

> eg https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tinker

Does this page show something different in your region? For me it doesn't say anything about what you're claiming it does outside of one "chiefly Ireland, sometimes offensive" definition. The etymology only says "Middle English tinkere", and the history explicitly states its first use as being the not-"chiefly Ireland, sometimes offensive" definition. The etymologies I was seeing show it going from "this is a word that describes a job" and branching to "this group of people does this job a lot, let's call them this word" and "fiddling with things to do anything is close enough".

I'm genuinely interested in this, I work in what's a relatively "woke" domain (education) and I've never heard a complaint about something being called "tinkerable", even from colleagues in the UK.

[closewith]

You are misreading the definition, as the itinerant mender of household utensils are Travellers.

[gs17]

Let's say you're correct. If "the etymological order given in all sources" is yours, shouldn't you be able to provide an example of that instead of one that requires assuming you're correct and reading words that aren't in the definition, while ignoring the listed etymology?

[closewith]

I have, as have otgers.

[kgwgk]

> the order of senses is clear: the Traveller sense comes first, the modern “casual repair” sense comes later and was derived from it.

The order of the senses is clear but different:

The "mender of kettles, pots, pans, etc.," sense come first.

The “gipsy” sense comes later an is derived from it.

The “repair or put into shape rudely or temporarily" - and later "work imperfectly, work in an experimental or meddlesome manner; keep busy in a useless way" - sense also comes from the first one.

[closewith]

The "mender of kettles, pots, pans, etc.," refers to Travelers.

[kgwgk]

[…] is to be considered that genuine Gypsies have often been spoken of as "tinkers" (chaudronniers) on account of the occupation with which they have long been associated ; and that, although there is no known mention of "Gypsies" in the British Islands prior to the fifteenth century, there are many earlier references to "tinkers" or "tinklers," as they are called in Scotland. […] "Tinkler can be traced back to about the year 1200. Tinker and Tinkler were not uncommon titles at that time. […] All these seem to have had fixed abodes, and not to have been of the same itinerant class with which we now associate all tinkers, and which used to require the epithet 'wandering' to distinguish them." […] To the same purpose as the opinion expressed in this last sentence is Crofton's observation made elsewhere, that "all Gypsies may be pedlars, brasiers, or tinkers, but the reverse may not follow."

[ Scottish Gypsies under the Stewarts; David MacRitchie; 1894 ]

[closewith]

Right, so as per your quote, the term referred to Travellers exclusively for centuries before the verb came along.

You are going to great efforts to defend your use of a slur.

[kgwgk]

>> The "mender of kettles, pots, pans, etc.," refers to Travelers.

> Right, so as per your quote, the term referred to Travellers exclusively for centuries

The quote supports what I wrote before:

1) The "mender of kettles, pots, pans, etc.," sense come first.

2) The “gipsy” sense comes later and is derived from it.

What the quote says:

- Tinker was not an uncommon title in the thirteenth century.

- It was used to refer to tin smiths - usually with fixed residence.

- Those tin smiths were not of the same itinerant class with which we now [nineteenth century at the time of the writing] associate the term.

- Tinker used to require the epithet "wandering" to distinguish the "Travellers" specifically.

I have no idea how you may read it as confirming that it never referred to the occupation before adopting by association the second meaning.

[closewith]

> 1) The "mender of kettles, pots, pans, etc.," sense come first.

> 2) The “gipsy” sense comes later and is derived from it.

This is controversial, but even if accepted, that still leaves 4-6 centuries where the term referred exclusively to Travellers before the verb came about directly from that meaning.