antiquarian

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin antīquārius (“student of the past”), with the English suffix -an,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} and the OED compares the earlier antiquary, from the same Latin word;^[2] the Shorter Oxford relates it to the suffix -arian.^[7] The Latin word is formed from antīquus (“ancient”), the source of antique, and -ārius.^[2] Etymonline takes the Latin adjective from Proto-Indo-European *anti- (“before”) and *okw- (“to see”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who studies the past: 1595, in T. W.'s translation of a work by P. Leroy and others: “Not long time since, a learned Flemming and a good Antiquarian, hath vsed the same [title].”^[2] The revised OED thus antedates the 1610 of the 1989 edition and of Merriam-Webster;^[8][4] Etymonline has about 1600.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Antiquary was already in use from 1566 with the same meaning,^[2] and Collins still calls antiquarian the less common name for it.^[9] The adjective appears in 1610, in P. Holland's translation of W. Camden,^[2] much earlier than the 1771 of the 1989 edition, Merriam-Webster and Etymonline.^[8][4][3] From 1742 it is used of old, rare or valuable objects, especially books, and hence of those who sell them,^[2] a narrowing Etymonline also notes for the noun.^[3] From 1810 it names a large size of paper, typically 53 by 31 inches, now rare.^[2][9] The noun now typically refers to scholars of the 19th century or earlier, as distinct from later archaeologists.^[2]

Timeline

• 1595 – noun, a person who studies or collects antiquities.^[2]
• 1610 – adjective, concerned with antiquities or the distant past.^[2]
• 1742 – of a book or other object, old, rare or valuable; hence of a bookseller, specializing in such things.^[2]
• 1810 – adjective, of a large size of paper; as a noun from 1815.^[2]
• 1848 – characteristic of a past age; old-fashioned.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who studies or collects antiquities; an antiquary.^{[2][4][9][10]}
2. A large size of drawing paper, 53 by 31 inches.^[4][9][2]

Adjective

1. Relating to antiquaries or to the study of the distant past: the county's antiquarian society.^{[4][10][9][2]}
2. Dealing in old, rare or secondhand books; of such books: an antiquarian bookshop by the cathedral.^[4][10][2]
3. Showing an amateur's interest in old things or former times.^[4]
4. Characteristic of a past age; old-fashioned.^[2]

Word family

• antiquarianism

Related words

• antic
• ancient
• antiquary
• antiquated
• antique
• antiquity

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin