Antiquitarians

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A collective of people devoted to preserving historical artifacts and ancient customs
2. An organization focused on the protection and appreciation of relics and time-honored traditions
3. A group of individuals dedicated to the conservation of historical objects and the maintenance of age-old practices

Etymology: "Antiquitarians" is the plural of "antiquitarian," a noun for someone who studies or collects relics of the past. The base is the Latin "antīquitās," meaning antiquity or old times, which English took in directly, and the ending "-arian" is the familiar suffix seen in words like "librarian" and "humanitarian," marking a person associated with a field or practice. The source word here is "antiquity," so the core of the term is simply "one who is concerned with antiquity." Because the suffix attaches to the Latin-derived stem, the word can also be read as "antiquity" plus "-arian," or as "antiquary" plus "-an," a pair of routes that land on the same meaning.