Germanist

Borrowed from German Germanist, along the model of earlier English Romanist (“scholar of Romance languages”). By surface analysis, German +‎ -ist, doublet of Germanicist.

Germanist (plural Germanists)

1. (humanities; dated) A person who studies the Germanic languages, the associated literatures and/or cultures. [from late 19th c.]

   Synonym: Germanicist

   Coordinate terms: Romanist, Slavist

2. (humanities) A person who specialises in the German language, literature and/or culture of the German-speaking world. [from late 19th c.]

   Coordinate terms: Anglicist, Scandinavicist, Netherlandist, Yiddishist

Germanist (comparative more Germanist, superlative most Germanist)

1. (historiography, law) Pertaining to the school of thought which downplays or denies the continuity of legal and cultural institutions between Rome and later medieval Europe, highlighting the role of external influences and innovation in the decline of the Roman Empire.

   Antonyms: Romanist, continuity

   • 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 also led to the description of post-Roman lawcodes as Germanic law, and, in archeology, to the new types of rural settlement which replaced the old Roman villas being called 'Germanic', and to the new burial forms, like furnished inhumation (with grave-goods), similarly being ascribed to Germanic influence.

• emigrants, man-tigers, mastering, remasting, rematings, streaming

german(isch) (“Germanic”) +‎ -ist or Latin germān(icus) (“Germanic”) +‎ -ist, formed by analogy with Romanist (“scholar of Roman law or culture”); later expanded to designate the study of Germanic languages (in the broad sense) or German (narrow sense).[1]

• IPA^(key): /ɡɛʁmaˈnɪst/

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Germanist m (weak, genitive Germanisten, plural Germanisten, feminine Germanistin)

1. (law) A scholar of or proponent of Germanic law, especially one emphasising a distinction to Roman law. [from mid 19th c.]

   Coordinate term: Romanist

2. (humanities; dated) A person who studies the Germanic languages and/or the associated literatures and cultures; a Germanicist. [from 1846]

   Coordinate terms: Romanist, Slawist

3. (humanities) A person who specialises in the German language and/or literature of the German-speaking world; a Germanist. [from late 19th c.]
   • Jürgen Enders, Lutz Bornmann, Regressionsanalyse zur Vorhersage der Bearbeitungsdauer der Dissertation nach Promotionsfach, 2001

     Die durch dieses Modell erklärte Varianz der Bearbeitungsdauer variiert zwischen 23 Prozent bei den Elektrotechnikern und 45 Prozent bei den Germanisten.

     Through this model it is made clear that the variation in preparation time varies between 23 percent for Electrical Engineers and 45 percent for Germanists.

   Coordinate terms: Anglist, Skandinavist, Niederlandist, Frisist, Jiddist

• “Germanist” in Duden online