also palaeontologist, "one versed in the study of the former life of the Earth as preserved in fossils," 1836, from paleontology + -ist.
Entries linking to paleontologist
paleontology n.
also palaeontology, "the science of the former life of the Earth, as preserved in fossils," 1833, probably from French paléontologie, from Greek palaios "old, ancient" (see paleo-) + ontologie "science or study of being and the essence of things" (see ontology). Related: Paleontological.
-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.