Viniculturalists

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Those who specialize in the study or practice of grape cultivation for winemaking
2. individuals who are experts in viticulture and its techniques
3. professionals dedicated to the science and craft of growing grapevines for wine production

Etymology: "Viniculturalists" is simply the plural of "viniculturalist", and the singular is built from "vinicultural" plus the suffix "-ist", which marks a person who practises or specializes in something. The core of the first part is Latin "vinum", wine, joined to "cultura", cultivation, the same root that gives "culture" and "agriculture". Put together, the stem describes the cultivation of vines for wine, and the suffix turns that activity into a title for the people who do it. The suffix is the more revealing part. "-ist" came into English through Latin and Greek, where it attached to nouns and adjectives to name practitioners, so a "viniculturalist" belongs to the same family as "botanist" or "cyclist" in form. Because the word is a transparent combination of familiar parts rather than a word inherited from older English, its meaning can be read straight off its construction.