archivist

Etymology

It is formed from English archive + -ist,^[2][3][4] perhaps directly after Medieval Latin archivista and Italian archivista, found in Florio (1611), or French archiviste.^[2][3] Merriam-Webster Unabridged and Dictionary.com take it as probably borrowed from the French word.^[5][4] Archive is from French archif, from Late Latin archīvum (“written records”),^[3][2] from Ancient Greek ἀρχεῖον (arkheîon, “public office, town hall”), from ἀρχή (arkhḗ, “government”).^[2][3][6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

A keeper of archives: 1753, in the Supplement to Chambers's Cyclopædia.^[2][3][7][5] Dictionary.com dates it to 1745–55.^[4]

Timeline

• 1753 – a keeper of archives.^[2][3][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person in charge of archives, who collects, catalogues and preserves them: The archivist found the old maps in a basement store.^[5][8][9]

Related words

• archive
• archives
• archon

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin