Where does “enthusiast” come from?

Enthusiast comes from Ancient Greek ἐνθουσιαστής, formed with the agent suffix Ancient Greek -τής to denote one possessed by divine inspiration.

enthusiast (English): A person filled with or guided by enthusiasm; A...

Definitions

  1. A person filled with or guided by enthusiasm; A...

Ancestry of “enthusiast”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Ancient Greekἐνθουσιαστήςan enthusiast, a zealot
2Ancient Greek-τήςAppended to verbs to form agent nouns
3Ancient Greekπεῖραtrial, experiment, attempt
4Proto-Indo-Europeanper-before, in front; first; to go through
5Proto-Indo-Europeanpr̥tóspassed , crossed

Words derived from “enthusiast”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European pr̥tós →Every word from Proto-Indo-European per- →Every word from Ancient Greek -τής →