Bill Wood wrote: > I am used to hearing people called "Wheel wrights" and "SHip Wrights" and > have always assumed it denoted someone with some specific expertise with > either building wagon wheels or ships. That is perfectly valid in terms of the wider English language, but the original query concerned the older usage in Scots of the simple term "wright", and how it related to the English terms "carpenter" or "joiner". According to the online "Dictionary of the Scots language"*, a "wright" or "vricht" is: "one who works with wood and woodworking tools, a carpenter or joiner" which confirms that it is general term for a worker in wood. In this regard, the same dictionary's entry for "joiner" ("jyner" etc) is also illuminating: "A woodworker in gen., not restricted as in Eng. to one who does lighter or more ornamental work than a carpenter, which word is not native to Sc. usage. 'Joiner' itself has supplanted the earlier 'Wricht', from the early 19th c." Gavin Bell * which combines the wisdom of the "Scottish National Dictionary" and the "Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue", two major dictionaries which, in their printed form, occupy about a metre and a half of shelf-space and are equivalent to the "Oxford English Dictionary" in scope and authority