I like WRIGHT "a person who creates, builds, or repairs something specified" < wryhta ("r" and "y" stead-shifted) < wyrhta worker < from W.Ger. *wurhtjo (see OHG wurhto, O.Fris. wrichta) < P.Gmc. *wurkijanan.

We already have Wainwright (O.E. wægn-wyrhta, "wagon-maker/builder"), which could be said for 'car manufacturer'; Wain < O.E. wægn "wheeled vehicle; wagon."

Thoughts, anyone?

Wayward looking?? ;-0

MANUFACTURE < L. manufact ( L. manu(s) "hand" + factura "a working" < "something made by hand" >> hand-worked, hand-made

One could choose from words like building, making, tooling and so forth. Were you seeking only one word to put in the stead of the Latin?

@AnWulf:

See my earlier writ on hæleþ:

hæleþ, heleþ, es; m. A man, warrior, hero [a word occurring only in poetry, but there frequently] :-- Gleáwferhþ hæleþ the man wise of mind, Cd. 57; Th. 70, 12; Gen. 1152 : 59; Th. 72, 6; Gen. 1182, 94; Th. 122, 13; Gen. 2026 : Beo. Th. 383; B. 190 : 668; B. 331. Hæleþas heardmóde warriors stern-minded, Cd. 15; Th. 19, 2; Gen. 285. Hæleþ hátene wǽron Sem and Cham Iafeþ þridde the heroes were named Shem and Ham, the third Japhet, Cd. 75; Th. 93, 22; Gen. 1550. Hæleþa scyppend creator of men, Exon. 11 b; Th. 17, 7; Cri. 266 : Cd. 98; Th. 129, 6; Gen. 2139 : Andr. Kmbl. 41; An. 21. Hæleþa bearn the children of men, Cd. 35; Th. 46, 30; Gen. 752. Heleþa sceppend creator of men, Hy. Grn. 8, 34. [Laym. hæleþ, heleþ : O. Sax. helið : O. H. Ger. helid (appears first in 12th cent. v. Graft. iv. 544) : Ger. held.] SOURCE: http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/books/asd/dict-H.html

LEAD < M.E. leden < from O.E. lǣdan < from P.Gmc. *laidijanan "to go, lead" < P.Gmc. *līþanan "to go, to pass"

LODE < O.E. lād "way, course, journey, road" < P.Gmc. *laidō; akin to LOAD

@jayles:

LOL!

"perhaps "lodestar" for hero ??? "

Well, 'lode' (< O.E. lād "way, course, carrying") is akin to leiten, Leiter (OHG leita) in today's German. Lodestar "guiding star" might do well for 'leader' or something similar.

Hetja is the main word for 'hero' in Islandic, I think.

'Garpur' < Old Norse garpr "a warlike man"; Norwegian > garp (ON garpr) being a common term of abuse for the Hanseatic merchants, meaning 'tough guy' or 'big mouth'; akin to English CARP "complain or find fault unreasonably", "a peevish complaint" < ME carpen to "speak, prate" < ON karpa "to brag" < ON Garpr

@jayles: "What happened to "Held"?"

Why do you ask? ;-)

HELD < MHG helt < OHG Helid > O.E. hæleþ(as), hæle (also hæl, hælþs, hælða) "man, warrior, hero"; See O. Sax. helið

There is no word in latter-day English that I know of that goes back to O.E. hæleþ. This word was mainly a poetic word (used a lot as a play on words), and was almost always one of two or more words of a word group with the same letter, that was said over and over again so as to make a steady beat. In poetry, it was sometimes meant to mean "Christian Warrior".

Why Norwegian is the easiest language for English speakers to learn

http://www.pagef30.com/2008/08/why-norwegian-is-easiest-language-for.html

Cool web-writ that fits in well here, I think.

http://wishydig.blogspot.com/2006/09/old-english-redux.html

@AnWulf:

OE mindom can be taken as a true Ænglisc (Germanic) word. The Latin folks might say that it is a blended word (L-Eng), but I can show it is not.

OE minn "small, slight, low", min "slight", mins, minsian "to diminish" < P.Gmc. *min-, *minns, *minnista-, *minniz (adj. minniz-a, gen. minniz-ins) "less, small, young"; akin to ON minni "small(er)"; Gothic minniza "younger", mins, minznan "to be come less, diminish"; Old Saxon minsōn “to make less, make smaller”; German minder "less, lower", mindest "minimum, least; Eng. mince (< Frankish *minsto, *minnisto < *min, *minn “small, less”) > L. minor, minute, minus, minutia, minimum, minister. Also shared with Celtic *min- "reduce, diminish"; Russian маленький "small"; Polish mniej "less", mniejszy "smaller", among others.

We all know (-)dōm "judgement, state, condition, authority, jurisdiction" < P.Gmc.*dōmaz, whence Latin borrowed it for words like statutum (-tum = dōm).

OE mindom is a true Teutonic word.