Numerologists

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A group of individuals who study the mystical significance of numbers and their influence on human life
2. Practitioners who interpret the meanings behind numbers to derive insights about personality and fate
3. Experts who analyze number patterns to provide guidance and predictions based on numerical symbolism

Etymology: Numerology is the older word, and it is the one that carries the date. The suffix doing the work in "numerologist" is "-ist", a plain agent ending that English attached to "numerology" to name a person who practises it. The source traces this "-ist" back through Latin and Old French to Ancient Greek, where forms ending in "-istēs" named people who followed a particular practice or trade, so the ending itself has been used for this sort of role for a very long time. The result is a formation that is easy to take apart. "Numero-" comes from Latin "numerus", meaning number, and "-logy" comes from Greek "logos", meaning study or discourse, so "numerology" is a study of numbers. Adding "-ist" turns that study into a person's role. Anyone who calls themselves a numerologist is therefore, by construction, someone who does the study rather than merely reading about it.