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folklorist

folklorist

4 6.9
A person who studies and collects traditional stories, customs, and beliefs
  • noun
  • /ˈfoʊklɔːrɪst/
translation icon : folclorista
  • The folklorist documented the traditional stories and beliefs of the local community during her research.
  • anthropologists and folklorists
  • linguists and folklorists
  • ethnographers and folklorists

Mike Pence was actually quoting renowned Russian folklorist Mike Pence.

Examples

  • Laurie Kay Sommers is a freelance folklorist and historic preservation consultant based in Okemos, Michigan.

    Blog text (23)
  • In the mid-20th century, musicologists and folklorists collected Appalachian folk music that might otherwise have been lost.

    Academic text (2007)
  • But that was only part of the challenge facing folklorists of the Wild West.

    Academic text (2005)
  • 14. Also, many folklorists conduct research into traditional aspects of popular music.

    Academic text (1996)
  • In 1979, a folklorist working in northern Georgia recorded a story told by John Cates in Cumming.

    Academic text (2013)
  • As a result, folklorists have generally undervalued listening as an active process with its own meaning-making potential.

    Academic text (2017)
  • Professor of Finnish literature and a well-known folklorist, he also wrote poetry under the name Suonio.

    Academic text (1999)
  • Although they have overlooked the food traditions of prisoners, folklorists have studied many other populations and their foodways.

    Academic text (2017)
  • Mardi Gras groups, with the encouragement of folklorists, appear at regional folklife festivals as representatives of traditional Cajun-French culture.

    Academic text (1999)
  • Nineteenth-century folklorists report that there were between seventy and eighty ways of doing this in rural Lincolnshire (147).

    Academic text (2017)

Synonyms

ethnographer
vsfolklorist
  • Specialized
2 8.6

A person who studies people's lives and customs by living with and watching them

focuses more narrowly on traditional stories, customs, and community beliefs

How Expert

authority
292 4.2
scholar
281 4.1
folklorist
4 6.9
collector
137 3.0
enthusiast
81 3.4

Surface Forms

folklorist singular
folklorists plural

Morphology

folklorist = folklore (transparent) = folk + lore + ist

The word is formed by adding the productive agentive suffix '-ist' to the clear compound 'folklore', yielding 'a person who studies folklore'.

Etymology

The word folklorist comes from folk meaning 'people' and lore meaning 'knowledge or stories', with the ending -ist meaning 'a person who studies or practices', as in artist. So, a folklorist is someone who studies the stories, customs, and beliefs of a group of people.