Right, it's supposed to mean someone who works with metal. Just wondering why that particular line of work became so dominant.

wikipedia entry:

The name refers to a smith, originally deriving from smið or smiþ, the Old English term meaning one who works in metal, related to the word smitan, the Old English form of smite, which also meant strike (as in early 17th century Biblical English: the verb "to smite" = to hit).