antiquaryn.adj.

Etymology: As noun < classical Latin antīquārius student of the past, in post-classical Latin also copyist, scribe (4th cent.) < antīquus antique adj. + -ārius -ary suffix¹. As adjective < post-classical Latin antiquarius relating to the copying of manuscripts (4th or 5th cent. in Jerome), ancient (11th cent.) < classical Latin antīquus antique adj. + -ārius -ary suffix¹. Compare antiquarian n., antiquarian adj.Specific senses. In quot. 1905 at sense A. 1b after Swedish (now historical) riksantikvarie keeper of the nation's antiquities (1740 as †riksantiqvarius ); compare Swedish antikvarie (1630 as †antiqvarius , earliest in sense A. 1b). In sense A. 3 apparently by association with antiquity n. In sense A. 4 apparently by association with antic n. Foreign-language parallels. Compare Middle French, French antiquaire (adjective) ancient (1552; obsolete after the early 17th cent.; 1546 in Rabelais in sense ‘precious’), (noun) person who studies antiquities, archaeologist (1568), person who collects antique objects (1800), person who buys antiques in order to sell them (1802, after German Antiquar ; already end of the 12th cent. in Old French in an isolated attestation in sense ‘scribe who copies manuscripts’). Compare also Spanish anticuario , noun (a1586 in sense ‘person who studies antiquities’; 1490 in sense ‘scribe who copies manuscripts‘), Italian antiquario (1483 as noun, earliest in sense ‘person who studies antiquities‘; the use as adjective is not paralleled until the second half of the 18th cent.; the passage cited in quot. 1599 at sense B. translates an Italian original which has not been traced). The sense ‘scribe who copies manuscripts’ in French and Spanish is < post-classical Latin antiquarius , noun (see above). Isidore ( Origines 6. 14. 1) says such a person is so called as he primarily copies old books. It is perhaps more likely to be in allusion to the fact that an antiquarius could transcribe the old-fashioned script used in manuscripts. The Latin word is sometimes glossed by Byzantine Greek ἀρχαιογράϕος (see archaeography n.). Compare also German Antiquar, (before mid 18th cent. only with Latin inflectional endings) †Antiquarius person who studies antiquities (1597, now rare; the now usual sense is ‘person who buys and sells antique objects’ (early 18th cent.)). Earlier occurrence of the form as a personal name. Attested earlier in an English context as a rendering of Jacobus Antiquarius, the Latin form of the name of Jacopo Antiquario (1445–1512), Italian Renaissance scholar:1532 L. Cox Art or Crafte Rhetoryke C.i^v An epistle that Angele Policiane writeth..to Iames Antiquarie of Laurence Medices, howe..he dysposed hym selfe in his dethe bed.