Dictionary

historiaster en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /hɪstɔɹiˈæstəɹ/ (General-American)
• /hɪstɔːɹiˈæstə/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Probably borrowed from New Latin historiaster, from Latin historia (“history”) + -aster (suffix denoting incomplete or partial resemblance, and hence sometimes having a derogatory connotation). Historia is derived from Ancient Greek ῐ̔στορῐ́ᾱ (hĭstorĭ́ā, “systematic observation, inquiry; knowledge or written account of such an inquiry”), from ῐ̔στορέω (hĭstoréō, “to ask, inquire; to examine, observe; to record”) (from ῐ̔́στωρ (hĭ́stōr, “one who knows law and right, judge; wise man; witness”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (“to see”)) + -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā, suffix forming feminine abstract nouns). Analyzable as history + -aster.

Meanings

1. (archaic, derogatory, rare) An inferior historian.
   • Speaking of a series of trials for treason held at Antioch, of which he [Ammianus Marcellinus] does not recollect all the grim details, he excuses himself with the words: "As the full particulars of what was done have escaped my memory, I shall describe succinctly what I can recall to mind." "But this is shocking," some scientific historiaster of our own day will exclaim. "There must have been an official record of the trial; he should have consulted that." The answer is, of course, that under that iron despotism Ammianus had as much chance of inspecting official documents of state trials as a German scholar in the last decade would have had of perusing the secret archives of the Gestapo. 1947, M[ax] L[udwig] W[olfram] Laistner, “Ammianus Marcellinus”, in The Greater Roman Historians (Sather Classical Lectures; 21), Berkeley; Los Angeles, Calif.: University of California Press, →OCLC, page 153:
   • Humbly inscribed to those two celebrated historiasters, Mr. [John] Oldmixon, author of the History of the royal House of Stuart, &c. &c. &c. and Mr. Samuel Chandler, author of the late History of persecution. 1736, [Zachary Grey], “[Title page]”, in English Presbyterian Eloquence, &c. In a Collection of Remarkable Flowers of Rhetorick. […], London: […] J[ames] Roberts, →OCLC; quoted in Samuel Halkett; John Laing, compilers, edited by [Catherine Laing], A Dictionary of the Anonymous and Pseudonymous Literature of Great Britain. […], volume I, Edinburgh: William Paterson, 1882, →OCLC, title page, column 761:
   • We next meet our historian—or historiaster, if the name might be coined to describe him—on one of the comparatively rare occasions where he is dealing mostly with undisputed facts. T[homas] Dunbar Ingram (1887), A History of the Legislative Union of Great Britain and Ireland, London: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC
   • A human sacrifice is here clearly indicated. This mysterious cavern, with its diabolical associations, […] leave an impression which the efforts of those historiasters who endeavor to whitewash Tiberius cannot weaken with all their arguments. 1868 June, [Bayard Taylor], “A Week on Capri”, in The Atlantic Monthly. A Magazine of Literature, Science, Art, and Politics, volume XXL, number CXXVIII, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, […], →OCLC, page 747, column 1:

Forms

Relateds

historicaster

Synonyms

historicaster

Translations (2)

de Geschichtling (inferior historian) · fi toistaitoinen historioitsija (inferior historian)

wikipedia: Jean Nicolaï