Zoonist, adj.

zoonist
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zoonist_adj%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2017

# † Zoonistadjective

## Earlier version

- zoonist in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the adjective Zoonist mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the adjective Zoonist. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.

This word is now obsolete. It is only recorded in the 1890s.

### Where does the adjective Zoonist come from?

Earliest known use

1890s

The only known use of the adjective Zoonist is in the 1890s.

OED's earliest evidence for Zoonist is from 1890, in the writing of J. S. Stuart-Glennie.

Zoonist is a borrowing from Greek, combined with an English element.

Etymons: Greek ζῷον, ‑ist suffix.

### Nearby entries

1. zoomy, adj. 1931–
2. zoomythic, adj. 1889–
3. zoon, n. 1851–1905
4. zoon, v. 1880–
5. zoon, int. 1863–
6. -zoon, comb. form
7. zoonate, n. 1798–1857
8. zoonerythrin, n. 1882–
9. zoonic, adj. 1798–1853
10. zooning, n. 1885–
11. Zoonist, adj.1890–97
12. zoonite, n. 1838–
13. zoonitic, adj. 1860–91
14. zoonomic, adj. 1836–
15. zoonomical, adj. 1800–
16. zoonomist, n. 1800–99
17. zoonomy, n. 1800–
18. zoonosis, n. 1873–
19. zoonosologist, n. 1860–
20. zoonosology, n. 1845–
21. zoonotic, adj. 1877–

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from Greek, combined with an English element.
Etymons: Greek ζῷον, ‑ist suffix.
Irregularly < ancient Greek ζῷον living being, animal (see zoon n.) + ‑ist suffix…
Irregularly < ancient Greek ζῷον living being, animal (see zoon n.) + ‑ist suffix.

### Notes

Compare also the apparently isolated formation zoonism in the source of quot. 1890:

1. 1890

   > Either in themselves, however, or in their English derivatives, the Greek words—Ζάω, Ζῶ, Ζωή, Ζωός, Ζῶον, κ. τ. λ.—are sufficiently familiar to make ‘Zoönism’ immediately understood as denoting some conception or other of life.

   J. S. Stuart-Glennie in L. M. J. Garnett, Women of Turkey vol. I. p. lxiii

New English Dictionary (OED first edition) (1921) gives the pronunciation as (zōu·ŏnist) /ˈzəʊənɪst/ .

## Meaning & use

Obsolete. rare.

1. 1890–97
   Designating a conception of nature as a living entity, or one that attributes life to all natural objects; of or relating to such a conception.
   1. 1890

      > According to the Zoönist conception of things, there is but one Living World, in which every single thing is conceived as akin to every other thing, sympathetically actable on by other things, and transformable into every other thing.

      J. S. Stuart-Glennie in L. M. J. Garnett, Women of Turkey vol. I. p. lxiv
   2. 1892

      > The conception of nature as itself living, or the Zoönist conception, and..the conception of nature as inclusive of beings of a superhuman character, or the Supernalist conception.

      Athenæum 25 June 829/2
   3. 1897

      > Among the Zoönist poems are dialogues between personified natural objects.

      Folk-Lore September 274
   philosophy
   1. animist 1807–
      Philosophy. An adherent or advocate of the doctrine of animism (animism, n. 1). Now historical.
   2. Zoonist 1890–97
      Designating a conception of nature as a living entity, or one that attributes life to all natural objects; of or relating to such a conception.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Forms

### Variant forms

1. 1800s
   Zoonist, Zoönist

Zoonist, adj. was revised in June 2017.

Zoonist, adj. was last modified in December 2024.