Romanist

See also: romanist

English

Etymology

From Roman +‎ -ist.

Noun

Romanist (plural Romanists)

1. (often derogatory) A Roman Catholic. [from 16th c.]
   • 1587 [1536], John Calvin, translated by Thomas Norton, The Institution of Christian Religion, London: H. Midleton, translation of Institutio Christianae Religionis (in Latin), page 406:

     This is enough & too much, that when the Romaniſts doe boaſt that their iuriſdiction is ſpirituall, it is eaſy to ſhewe that there is nothing more contrary to the order inſtitute of Chriſte, and that it hath no more likeneſſe to the auncient cuſtome than darkneſſe hath to light.

   • 1674, William Squire, Some more Considerations proving the Unreasonableness of the Romanists in Requiring us to Return to the Communion of the Present Romish-Church, H.M., pages 112-113:

     In quarrels with the Pope if the Clergy ſhould diſown to be ſubject to that temporal Prince who conteſts with him, if they refuſe to contribute for the defence of the Nation, if they foment any ſecret deſigns at the Popes command, then the ſtricteſt Romaniſt would preſently ſee the inſecurity of that Kingdom.

   • 1786 June 27, Hester Thrale Piozzi, Thraliana:

     The manner of the Romanists however hanging their Churches with red Damask, & making Musick in a regular Orchestra there—is a despicable Effort—and defeats its own purpose completely, by turning the house of God into a Theatre […] .

2. (law) A scholar of Roman law and jurisprudence. [from 17th c.]
   • 1951, Hans Julius Wolff, Roman Law: An Historical Introduction, University of Oklahoma Press, →ISBN, page 229:

     The foundations of present views of Roman civil procedure were laid by the Austrian Romanist Moriz Wlassak [...]

3. (humanities) A scholar of Roman history and culture. [from 18th c.]
4. (humanities) A scholar of Romance languages; a Romanicist. [from 19th c.]

   Coordinate terms: Germanist, Slavicist, Orientalist, Sinologist, Arabist, Hebraist

   • 1886, Encyclopaedia Britannica, volume Volume 20, PRU-ROS, page 668:

     The principal magazines devoted to the subject are—Jahrbuch für romanische und englische Literatur (ed. Wolff, Ebert, and Lembcke), later only für romanische Literatur; Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen (ed. Herrig), of a more popular character; Romania (a quarterly, ed. Gaston Paris and Paul Meyer, since 1872), contains ariticles of the most eminent Romanists; Revue des Langues Romanes (Montpellier, from 1870 onwards), chiefly devoted to Provençal; Romanische Studien (ed. Boehmer); Zeitschrift für romanische Philologie (ed. Gröber, since 1877); and Romanische Forschungen (ed. Vollmöller, since 1884).

5. (art history) A painter of the 16th century Romanist school.
6. (historical, Ireland, derogatory) someone perceived to be in favor of Rome Rule in Ireland. [19th–early 20th c.]

Adjective

Romanist (comparative more Romanist, superlative most Romanist)

1. (law) Pertaining to Roman law and jurisprudence.
   • 1951, Hans Julius Wolff, Roman Law: An Historical Introduction, University of Oklahoma Press, →ISBN, page 207:

     Even in England the Romanist tradition not only remained alive but received strong new impulses in Oxford and Cambridge, where the teaching of the "civil"—i.e., Roman—law was never interrupted.

2. (historiography) Pertaining to the school of thought which emphasises the continuity of legal and cultural institutions between Rome and later medieval Europe, downplaying the role of external influences or innovation in the decline of the Roman Empire.

   Synonym: continuity

   Antonym: Germanist

   • 2005 [1995], “The Barbarian invasions”, in The New Cambridge Medieval History (The New Cambridge Medieval History), volume 1, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →DOI, →ISBN, page 36:

     The 'Germanist' view has been countered with the 'Romanist' or 'continuity' view, which holds that the Germanic barbarians created little that was new.

Translations

Translations

• German: romanistisch (de)

Anagrams

• Martinos, Monastir, Stromain

German

Etymology 1

Latin rōmānus +‎ -ist or Romane (“speaker of a Romance language”) +‎ -ist. Sense of 'a scholar of Romance language and literature' reinforced by Germanist, Slawist, Latinist, as well as French latiniste.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁomaˈnɪst/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

Romanist m (weak, genitive Romanisten, plural Romanisten, feminine Romanistin)

1. (often derogatory, dated) Supporter of the Roman Catholic Church; a Roman Catholic. [early 16th–19th c.]
   • 1520, Martin Luther, An den Christlichen Adel deutscher Nation von des Christlichen standes besserung, Wittenberg: Melchior Lotther; republished as An den Christlichen Adel deutscher Nation von des Christlichen standes besserung (Martin Luther: Werke. 120 Bände), volume 6, Weimar, 1888, page 405:

     Die Romanisten haben drey mauren, mit grosser behendickeit, umb sich zogen, damit sie sich biszher beschutzt, das sie niemant hat mugenn reformierenn, dadurch die gantz Christenheit grewlich gefallen ist.

2. (law) A scholar, practitioner or proponent of Roman law and jurisprudence. [from mid 19th c.]

   Coordinate term: Germanist

3. (humanities) A scholar of Romance languages; a Romanicist. [from mid 19th c.]

   Coordinate terms: Germanist, Slawist, Sinologist, Japanologist, Arabist, Hebraist, Orientalist

4. (art history) A painter in the 16th century Romanist school.

Declension

Declension of Romanist [masculine, weak]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Romanist	die	Romanisten
genitive	eines	des	Romanisten	der	Romanisten
dative	einem	dem	Romanisten	den	Romanisten
accusative	einen	den	Romanisten	die	Romanisten

Related terms

• Romanistik
• romanistisch

Etymology 2

Roman +‎ -ist under influence of French romaniste (“novelist”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁomaˈnɪst/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

Romanist m (weak, genitive Romanisten, plural Romanisten, feminine Romanistin)

1. (obsolete) A novelist. [from 1734]

   Synonyms: Romanschreiber, Romanautor

Declension

Declension of Romanist [masculine, weak]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Romanist	die	Romanisten
genitive	eines	des	Romanisten	der	Romanisten
dative	einem	dem	Romanisten	den	Romanisten
accusative	einen	den	Romanisten	die	Romanisten

Further reading

• “Romanist” in Duden online
• Wolfgang Pfeifer, editor (1993), “Romanist”, in Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen (in German), 2nd edition, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, →ISBN