Where does “linguist” come from?
Linguist comes from English -ist, Latin -ista, and Proto-Indo-European -yéti, a suffix forming agent nouns from verbal roots denoting one who performs an action.
linguist (English): One who studies linguistics; A person skilled in...
Definitions
- One who studies linguistics; A person skilled in...
Ancestry of “linguist”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | -ist | Added to words to form nouns denoting |
| 2 | Old French | -iste | — |
| 3 | Latin | -ista | -ist; one who practises or believes |
| 4 | Ancient Greek | -ιστής | Alternative form of -τής; -ist |
| 5 | Ancient Greek | -τής | Appended to verbs to form agent nouns |
| 6 | Proto-Hellenic | -tās | — |
Words derived from “linguist”