historiaster

English

WOTD – 12 September 2024

Etymology

Probably borrowed from New Latin historiaster, from Latin historia (“history”) + -aster (suffix denoting incomplete or partial resemblance, and hence sometimes having a derogatory connotation). Historia is derived from Ancient Greek ῐ̔στορῐ́ᾱ (historíā, “systematic observation, inquiry; knowledge or written account of such an inquiry”), from ῐ̔στορέω (historéō, “to ask, inquire; to examine, observe; to record”) (from ῐ̔́στωρ (hístōr, “one who knows law and right, judge; wise man; witness”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (“to see”)) + -ῐ́ᾱ (-íā, suffix forming feminine abstract nouns). Analyzable as history +‎ -aster.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /hɪstɔːɹiˈæstə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /hɪstɔɹiˈæstəɹ/
• Rhymes: -æstə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: his‧tor‧i‧ast‧er

Noun

historiaster (plural historiasters)

1. (derogatory, archaic, rare) An inferior historian.

   Synonym: historicaster

   • 1736, [Zachary Grey], “[Title page]”, in English Presbyterian Eloquence, &c. In a Collection of Remarkable Flowers of Rhetorick. […], London: […] J[ames] Roberts, →OCLC; quoted in Samuel Halkett, John Laing, compilers, edited by [Catherine Laing], A Dictionary of the Anonymous and Pseudonymous Literature of Great Britain. […], volume I, Edinburgh: William Paterson, 1882, →OCLC, title page, column 761:

     Humbly inscribed to those two celebrated historiasters, Mr. [John] Oldmixon, author of the History of the royal House of Stuart, &c. &c. &c. and Mr. Samuel Chandler, author of the late History of persecution.

   • 1868 June, [Bayard Taylor], “A Week on Capri”, in The Atlantic Monthly. A Magazine of Literature, Science, Art, and Politics, volume XXL, number CXXVIII, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, […], →OCLC, page 747, column 1:

     A human sacrifice is here clearly indicated. This mysterious cavern, with its diabolical associations, […] leave an impression which the efforts of those historiasters who endeavor to whitewash Tiberius cannot weaken with all their arguments.

   • 1887 October, W[illiam] E[wart] Gladstone, “Ingram’s History of the Irish Union [book review]”, in James Knowles, editor, The Nineteenth Century. A Monthly Review, volume XXII, number CXXVIII, London: Kegan Paul, Trench, & Co., […], →OCLC, page 458:

     We next meet our historian—or historiaster, if the name might be coined to describe him—on one of the comparatively rare occasions where he is dealing mostly with undisputed facts.

     A review of T[homas] Dunbar Ingram (1887) A History of the Legislative Union of Great Britain and Ireland, London: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC.

   • 1947, M[ax] L[udwig] W[olfram] Laistner, “Ammianus Marcellinus”, in The Greater Roman Historians (Sather Classical Lectures; 21), Berkeley; Los Angeles, Calif.: University of California Press, →OCLC, page 153:

     Speaking of a series of trials for treason held at Antioch, of which he [Ammianus Marcellinus] does not recollect all the grim details, he excuses himself with the words: "As the full particulars of what was done have escaped my memory, I shall describe succinctly what I can recall to mind." "But this is shocking," some scientific historiaster of our own day will exclaim. "There must have been an official record of the trial; he should have consulted that." The answer is, of course, that under that iron despotism Ammianus had as much chance of inspecting official documents of state trials as a German scholar in the last decade would have had of perusing the secret archives of the Gestapo.

Related terms

• historicaster

Translations

inferior historian

• Finnish: toistaitoinen historioitsija
• Galician: please add this translation if you can
• German: Geschichtling m (derogatory, rare)

Further reading

• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “historiaster”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.