Etymologies & Word Origins:Tinker's Damn
Not worth a tinker's damn is a phrase that is often uttered, although most people who say it nowadays have no idea what a tinker is. There is also considerable confusion over the word damn in this phrase, which is often spelled dam.A tinker was an itinerant tradesman who mended pots and pans. The name could derive from either the sound of a bell that the tinker rang to announce he was in the neighborhood (perhaps the name Tinkerbell from Peter Pan is an allusion to this practice), or it could be an onomatopoeic phrase for the tinking sound he made as he worked on the pots and pans. This explanation first appeared in 1440, and Samuel Johnson in his 1755 dictionary agreed with it.
Many etymologists agree with Dr. Johnson, but there are those who disagree as well. The earliest cite in the The Compact Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd Edition (OED2), dates from 1265 and is a surname: "Editha le Tynekere." This one is also of interest because it refers to a trades woman not a man. Other sources date the surname Tynker as early as 1252, and the Scottish form, tinkler dates to 1175. The verb to tink meaning to mend a pot dates only to the fifteenth century, and the words tink and tinkle, referring to the bell or metallic sound, date only to Wyclif's translation of the Bible in 1382, 1 Cor 8:1:
"I am maad as bras sownnynge or a symbal tynkynge."
Presumably the verb would have come first, but it could have existed outside the surviving literature or it could be a backformation from tinker.
It is very possible, and perhaps probable, that the word comes from the word tin, the material with which the tinker worked.
But what about the damn? Some say that it should be spelled dam because it is not a curse, but rather a term for a method used in mending pots. The tinker would use a piece of bread, or other soft material, to plug the hole he was mending to prevent his solder from flowing all over and escaping. This dam was worthless after the pot was mended, and was discarded. Therefore, a tinker's dam was a worthless bit of detritus. Brewer's notes this explanation, but does not take a position. The OED2 calls this a "baseless conjecture."
This explanation seems strained. Also, Hugh Rawson (A Dictionary of Euphemisms & Other Doubletalk) notes that the earliest use of the spelling dam in the phrase dates only to 1877, while the phrase tinker's damn was used in 1839 by Thoreau, and the OED2 cites usage of tinker's curse as early as 1824. Dam is probably a Victorian bowdlerization, and the explanation followed to justify it.
Similarly, some have suggested that the dam is a reference to the tinker's horse, usually a worthless nag. Not only does this explanation share the problem with dates, but dam does not mean horse; it means mother. A horse has a sire and a dam - -a father and a mother.
The origin of the phrase is most likely the simplest explanation. Tinkers had a reputation for cursing, and a tinker's damn was not worth much because tinkers damned everything.
© 1997-2000, by David Wilton. All rights reserved
BTW, someone mentioned 60 Minutes did a piece on this group a few years ago and I saw it, too. As much as I dislike 60 Minutes, I tend to believe that expose, and if I saw a Traveler coming toward me, I would give a very big tinker's damn about it, and run as fast as I could in the opposite direction.