apiarist n.

1650s, from Latin apiarium "bee-house, beehive," noun use of neuter of apiarius "of bees," from apis "bee," a mystery word unrelated to any similar words in other Indo-European languages. A borrowing from Semitic has been proposed; de Vaan finds it "conceivable." Related: Apiarian (1798).

word-forming element meaning "one who does or makes," also used to indicate adherence to a certain doctrine or custom, from French -iste and directly from Latin -ista (source also of Spanish, Portuguese, Italian -ista), from Greek agent-noun ending -istes, which is from -is-, ending of the stem of verbs in -izein, + agential suffix -tes.

Variant -ister (as in chorister, barrister) is from Old French -istre, on false analogy of ministre. Variant -ista is from Spanish, popularized in American English 1970s by names of Latin-American revolutionary movements.