1847, "proponent of medieval styles, one who sympathizes with the spirit and principles of the Middle Ages," from medieval + -ist. From 1882 as "one versed in the history of the Middle Ages."
Entries linking to medievalist
medieval adj.
"pertaining to or suggestive of the Middle Ages," 1825 (mediaeval), coined in English from Latin medium "the middle" (from PIE root *medhyo- "middle") + aevum "age" (from PIE root *aiw- "vital force, life; long life, eternity").
-ist
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.
