scholiast

English

Etymology

From Late Latin scholiasta, from Byzantine Greek σχολιαστής (skholiastḗs), from σχολιάζειν (skholiázein), from Ancient Greek σχόλιον (skhólion).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈskəʊ.lɪ.æst/

Noun

scholiast (plural scholiasts)

1. A scholar who writes commentary on the works of an author, especially one of the ancient commentators on classical authors.
   • 1851, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter 14, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume III, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:

     [N]o pedantic quotations from Talmudists and scholiasts […] ever marred the effect of his grave and temperate discourses.

   • 1981, John Gardner, Freddy's Book (Abacus 1982 edition), p. 8:

     [L]ike it or not, I was caught up once more in the scholiast’s game, paring popular notions of the ‘queer’ and ‘unearthly’ from notions of the ‘monstrous’.

Derived terms

• scholiastic