[1] The English meaning of carpenter is the occupation of one who makes wooden objects and structures by shaping wood.
The earliest attested use as a surname in English is from 1121,[3] though its use as a secondary name or description in the Domesday Book of 1086 might have precedence.
In Old French, the surname was commonly written as "Carpentier" and its earlier form as "Charpentier".
[2][citation needed] All of these variations come from the Late Latin carpentārĭus, denoting use as an artifex[6] – a wagon or carriage-maker equal to a wainwright.
The roots of carpentārĭus come from the Latin carpentum, meaning a two-wheeled carriage or a form of chariot not used directly for warfare in the community by women and others, plus arius – used in the masculine form as a noun denoting an agent of use from other nouns.