Alphabetarian

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˌæl.fə.bəˈtɛəɹi.ən/

Definitions

1. An individual committed to the arrangement of letters for communication
2. Someone devoted to studying or working with alphabets and written language
3. An individual who focuses on literacy, especially in relation to letters and their order

Etymology: The "alphabet" half of this word is one of the oldest-named things in Western writing: its first two letters came from Phoenician "aleph" and "beth", ox and house in the Semitic languages that gave the script its shapes, and the Greeks joined those names into "alphabetos" in the classical period. Latin took the word as "alphabetum", and English picked it up as "alphabete" in Middle English, later settling on "alphabet". The ending is a chain of borrowed suffixes. Latin "-arius" denoted a person connected with something, and it passed through Old French as "-ain" into Middle English as "-an", and through Middle English "-arie" into English "-ary", which gives the "-arian" of words such as "humanitarian". Attaching that suffix to "alphabet" produced "alphabetarian", a plain formation meaning someone devoted to the arrangement of letters.