The only excuse for the present formation of the word “andiron” is that the object itself is usually, though not always, composed of iron.
The name of this device for supporting wood in an open fireplace came into the language from Norman French and, properly, we should still be calling it andier or the equivalent Saxon word, aundyre.
The latter, through misinterpretation, produced our present word.
The ending yre, you see, was also an independent spelling of yren or yron, five hundred years ago, and consequently was thought also to mean “iron.”
