An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Schuster

by Friedrich Kluge

Schuster, masculine, ‘shoemaker, cobbler,’ from the equivalent Middle High German schuoch-sûtœre, masculine; Old High German and Middle High German also merely sûtâri, sûtœ̂re, masculine, ‘cobbler’; corresponding to Anglo-Saxon sûtêre, Northern English and Scotch souter. Borrowed from Latin sutor, with a German suffix denoting the agent; sûtâri, as a genuine Teutonic derivative from the Teutonic root sī̆w, ‘to sew,’ discussed under Saum and Säule, is not probable. The genuine German word for the Upper German Schuster is Middle High German schuochwürhte (allied to wirken), which has been preserved only in the proper names Schuchart or Schubert.