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I could not find any references to ‘naysmith’ as an actual historical term. Following is an excerpt from the book ‘Horus Rising.”

‘Then it occurs to me, Garviel, that only a weapon which questions its use could be of any value in that role. To be a member of the Mournival, you need to have concerns. You need to have wit, and most certainly you need to have doubts. Do you know what a naysmith is?’

‘No.’

‘In early Terran history, during the dominance of the Sumaturan dynasts, naysmiths were employed by the ruling classes. Their job was to disagree. To question everything. To consider any argument or policy and find fault with it, or articulate the counter position. They were highly valued.’

- Horus Rising, pg. 68

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    Nope...it sounds like a portmanteau of nay (meaning "No") and smith as in "wordsmith". ...close to Devil's Advocate, or maybe some kind of Greek chorus. Sci-fi writers often invent their own words (neologisms) to give a sense of futuristic verisimilitude.
    – Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_
    Commented Jun 9, 2019 at 21:33
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    It is obviously an invented word for the purposes of what sounds like a really good story. You should be aware that Nasmith (pronounced naysmith) is a family name in the UK. Not all of the members of that family would regard disagreeing with everything as a virtue.
    – JeremyC
    Commented Jun 9, 2019 at 21:45
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    Naysmith is a proper name (surname) in the English speaking world. Spelled Nasmith or Naysmith, it derives from an archaic name for the occupation of cutler. My local member of Parliament was Douglas Naysmith from 1997 to 2010.
    – Michael Harvey
    Commented Jun 9, 2019 at 21:48
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    It sounds like a naysmith is a professional naysayer.
    – Jason Bassford
    Commented Jun 10, 2019 at 3:45
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    That passage looks like a bit of classic exposition. He asks 'do you know what a naysmith is?' and explains then exactly what it means in the context of the story. The occupational-name meaning doesn't seem to be the usage here.
    – S Conroy
    Commented Jun 10, 2019 at 15:21

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I agree with Cascabel's comment that, from the context, this sounds like a portmanteau of "nay" (meaning "no") and "smith" (possibly in allusion to blacksmith, tinsmith etc., but possibly more in it's figurative use: "A person who fashions something non-material, such as an attribute, one's destiny, etc." [OED, sense b]). In other words, someone good at saying "no" or a Devil's Advocate.

For the record, the OED does not have an entry for naysmith; the closest is their entry for "Naysmyth" which comes from John Naysmith, 1808–90, a Scottish engineer who invented both a steam hammer (or piledriver) in 1839 and a design of telescope c1942. It makes no mention of either being related to a cutler.

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  • Thank you. I came to the same conclusion involving it being a portmanteau. I also came across all the references every body has provided, but the story alludes to “ancient Earth” (the setting is 30k years in the future) and makes use of “evolved” language that are variations of modern day terms. I was trying to find the modern day analog for “naysmith” relative to “Sumatran Dynasts.” I also could not find much relating to Sumatran politics and the use of “professional contrarians.” It was an intriguing concept, so I was interested in the possible inspiration(s) for the term and culture.
    – Digcoal
    Commented Aug 15, 2019 at 22:06
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From an out-of-universe perspective, the quoted passage doesn't indicate that the reader is supposed to be familiar with a word "naysmith" any more than the reader is supposed to be familiar with "Sumaturan dynasts" (which as far as I can tell are entirely fictional). The passage goes on to explain what the word means, which is exactly what would happen for an invented term.

I disagree with the suggestion that the use of the fictional term "naysmith" in this book must be related to the actually existing surname Naysmith. David Robinson's explanation seems plausible, but I think it's not completely certain: I think the only way to know for sure would be to ask Dan Abnett, the author of the book.

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  • I don't think anyone has said it must be related to the surname, just that it might be.
    – Stuart F
    Commented Oct 4, 2022 at 21:52
  • @StuartF: What I meant by that line is that I disagree somewhat with this part of David Robinson's answer: "The author was undoubtedly aware of the surname Naysmith (in various spellings) and was playing on the fact that the original meaning of the name is unguessable". I think it's possible but not certain that the use in Horus Rising is an intentional play on the surname.
    – herisson
    Commented Oct 4, 2022 at 22:06
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Agree with Michael Harvey, a quick google shows that it is related to cutler. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naysmith

I also found this: https://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Naismith

It appears the origin is from "Knifesmith".

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  • typo: cutlery, not cutler.
    – Lambie
    Commented Jun 10, 2019 at 15:21
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It seems pretty clear here that it is a profession made up from nay "no" and smith "someone who makes something professionally" to mean "someone who makes noes professionally". It is not a portmanteau as that means "words blended together", that is, parts of words joined together, as in motel from mot(or hot)el, whereas this is two complete words joined together, just as blacksmith and goldsmith.

But it is also clear that it is not simply a neologism. The author was undoubtedly aware of the surname Naysmith (in various spellings) and was playing on the fact that the original meaning of the name is unguessable. The author's meaning looks like a plausible meaning for an existing name as it is quite logical that if a goldsmith makes gold things professionally then a naysmith makes nays professionally, just as a naysayer does as an amateur.

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  • ‘Nay’ is an older form of ‘no.’
    – Digcoal
    Commented Jun 12, 2019 at 1:26
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    Thank you. @Digcoal. That is the assumption on which my answer is based. But it still exists in some dialects and languages, even if the spelling is not consistent. See here for Scots and here for Dutch, Low German, etc.
    – David Robinson
    Commented Jun 12, 2019 at 14:46
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I strongly suspect it is a reference to Bob Naismith.

He is a miniature designer who worked for Citadel Miniature in the 80's. He has notably sculpted the first Space Marine miniature.

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  • SF writers have a certain talent for slipping names into their works. If you can provide some evidence, I think this would be a winning answer.
    – user205876
    Commented Oct 4, 2022 at 5:59
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Although there was no official Naysmith title, court/royal Jesters often filled this role. Their mandate was to speak unspoken sentiments, no matter the gaffe that would normally be associated. They argued against everything. The trick was doing it in a way that didn't anger everyone enough to have you executed or exiled.

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