Horologist

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An individual who focuses on the creation and maintenance of instruments that quantify time
2. A professional dedicated to the study, design, and repair of devices that measure time, including clocks and watches
3. A person skilled in making and repairing tools that measure and display time accurately

Etymology: Horologist is a plain compound built from "horology" and the agent suffix "-ist", so its story is largely the story of its two parts. The suffix is the older and more travelled of the two. It descends from Ancient Greek "-istēs", which marked a person who practises or specialises in something, and it passed into Latin as "-ista" and then into Old French as "-iste" before reaching English as "-ist", a route that explains why so many English agent nouns, from "dentist" to "pianist", share the same ending. The first half, "horology", is the art of measuring time and making clocks and watches. Its root is the Greek "hōrologion", meaning a time-teller, built from "hōra", an hour, and "-logion", a collection or record. Attached to "-ist", the result is a word for the craftsman who repairs and maintains timepieces, a specialist whose trade is the older name for mechanical timekeeping.

Synonyms: watchmaker, clockmaker