Where does the word 'Knacker' have its origins?

daveyeh

I was reading this...

http://www.herald.ie/entertainment/tv-radio/travellers-curse-twink-after-knacker-tv-row-2843053.html

...and was left wondering.

teol

burning horses

RedXIV

Knacker was someone that killed horses i think

Quazzie

Dublin

Emiko

From old Irish for a horse, 'an each', or horse dealer 'an eachoir'.

RichieC

they put old and tired horses down. "I'm knackered".

CardBordWindow

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it means an 'old oak wooden ship, used in the civil war era'.

daveyeh

RedXIV wrote: »

Knacker was someone that killed horses i think

any idea why people who kill horses are referred to as 'a knacker' though? why 'knack'?

cosmicfart

daveyeh wrote: »

I was reading this...

http://www.herald.ie/entertainment/tv-radio/travellers-curse-twink-after-knacker-tv-row-2843053.html

...and was left wondering.

he is good at something, he has a knack for it, the Knacker

Guill

When a horse is knackered it is sent to the knackers yard to be killed.

It became associated with bad horses "that's a funckin knacker!"

Then with people who trade them.

Then with knackers.

daveyeh

Guill wrote: »

When a horse is knackered it is sent to the knackers yard to be killed.

It became associated with bad horses "that's a funckin knacker!"

Then with people who trade them.

Then with knackers.

I probably should have just checked the dictionary before asking...

knacker


   /ˈnækər/ Show Spelled[nak-er] Show IPA
noun British . 1. a person who buys animal carcasses or slaughters useless livestock for a knackery or rendering works.

2. a person who buys and dismembers old houses, ships, etc., to salvage usable parts, selling the rest as scrap.

3. Dialect . an old, sick, or useless farm animal, especially a horse.

4. Obsolete . a harness maker; a saddler.

Opelfruit

daveyeh wrote: »

any idea why people who kill horses are referred to as 'a knacker' though? why 'knack'?

Apparently its source is the Old Irish word for a horse dealer, eachoir, which then entered the english language.

The word came to mean those who disposed of worn out animals. In Ireland travellers would often take part in this kind of business and it became a pejorative term for them.

However today it mostly means a person of low class, ie a scumbag. This is the context that the auld knacker Twink used it in.

biko

OP answered his own question.