Octobrist n.

late Old English, from Latin October (mensis), from octo "eight," from PIE root *octo(u)- "eight" (see eight). The eighth month of the old Roman calendar (pre-46 B.C.E.), which began the year in March. For -ber see December. Replaced Old English winterfylleð. In Russian history, the October Revolution (in which the Bolsheviks overthrew the Provisional Government) happened Nov. 7, 1917, but because Russia had not at that time adopted the Gregorian calendar reform, this date was reckoned there (Old Style) as Oct. 25.

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.