Charpentier (pronounced [ʃaʁ.pɑ̃.tje]) is the French word for "carpenter", and it is also a French surname; a variant spelling is Carpentier. In English, the equivalent word and name is "Carpenter"; in German, "Zimmermann"; in Dutch, "Timmerman".
The origin of the name dates to 900–1000, when the Old French "Charpentier" derived from the Late Latin carpentarius artifex ("carpenter" or "wainwright"), equivalent to Latin carpent(um), meaning "two-wheeled carriage" (perhaps ultimately derived from Celtic—consider Old Irish carpad, "chariot"), suffixed with arius ("-ary"); see ER2.
