scientist

Where does the word "scientist" come from? It comes from Latin scientia, and was adopted directly into English (1834).

Scientist’s story begins in Latin: scientia meant “knowledge.” 'knowledge', from scire 'to know'; medieval universities called any organised body of knowledge a scientia, theology included. It reached English by 1834 as scientist. William Whewell proposed it at the British Association meeting in 1833, on the model of 'artist', after Coleridge objected to 'natural philosopher'; many scientists resisted it for decades. Today, scientist means a person who studies or has expert knowledge of science.

1. Stage 1 · Latin · classical scientia "knowledge", 'knowledge', from scire 'to know'; medieval universities called any organised body of knowledge a scientia, theology included.
2. Stage 2 · English · 1834 scientist "person who does science", William Whewell proposed it at the British Association meeting in 1833, on the model of 'artist', after Coleridge objected to 'natural philosopher'; many scientists resisted it for decades.