Horologers

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An expert in the field of timekeeping who designs, constructs, and fixes devices used to measure time
2. A specialist who creates and maintains instruments that measure passage of time
3. A craftsman skilled in fabricating and restoring devices that track hours and minutes

Etymology: "Horologers" is the plural of "horologer", a craftsman who makes or repairs clocks and watches. The base word "horology" goes back to Greek "hōrologion", a compound of "hōra" (hour) and "legein" (to tell or speak), so it literally meant something like "hour-teller". The Greeks used that name for any instrument that told the time, including water clocks and sundials, long before mechanical clocks existed. The word reached English through Middle French "orlogier", which was built on the same Greek root and gave English the form "orloger" in the Middle Ages. The later English spelling "horologer" restored the initial "h" from the Greek, a change that was common in words borrowed from classical sources. The "-er" ending is the ordinary English suffix for a person who practises a trade, so "horologer" is simply "one who works in the hour-telling craft".

Synonyms: watchmakers, timekeepers, clockmakers, chronologists, timepiece makers