folklore

[fohk-lawr, -lohr]

noun

the traditional beliefs, legends, customs, etc., of a people; lore of a people.

the study of such lore.

a body of widely held but false or unsubstantiated beliefs.

Origin of folklore

1846; folk + lore¹; coined by English scholar and antiquary William John Thoms (1803–85)

Related formsfolk·lor·ist, nounfolk·lor·is·tic, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for folklorist

There is also a rather unnecessary appendix, doubtless dear to the folklorist, of Berrichon wedding customs.
A History of the French Novel, Vol. 2|George Saintsbury
But he is more than a naturalist--he is an ethnologist and a folklorist of high value.
Mr. Murray's List of New and Recent Publications July, 1890|John Murray
The Folklorist is not unnaturally jealous of what, in some degree, looks like Folk-Lore.
Little Johannes|Frederik van Eeden
Mannhardt's method was more that of the folklorist than the philologist.
An Introduction to Mythology|Lewis Spence

He is not a folklorist because he loves folklore, but because he sees in it the materials for elucidating the early life of man.
Folklore as an Historical Science|George Laurence Gomme

British Dictionary definitions for folklorist

folklore

noun

the unwritten literature of a people as expressed in folk tales, proverbs, riddles, songs, etc

the body of stories and legends attached to a particular place, group, activity, etcHollywood folklore; rugby folklore

the anthropological discipline concerned with the study of folkloric materials

Derived Formsfolkloric, adjectivefolklorist, noun, adjectivefolkloristic, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for folklorist

folklorist

1881, from folklore + -ist.

folklore

1846, coined by antiquarian William J. Thoms (1803-1885) as an Anglo-Saxonism (replacing popular antiquities) and first published in the "Athenaeum" of Aug. 22, 1846, from folk + lore. Old English folclar meant "homily."

This word revived folk in a modern sense of "of the common people, whose culture is handed down orally," and opened up a flood of compound formations, e.g. folk art (1892), folk-hero (1874), folk-medicine (1877), folk-tale/folk tale (1850; Old English folctalu meant "genealogy"), folk-song (1847), folk singer (1876), folk-dance (1877).

Culture definitions for folklorist

folklore

Traditional stories and legends, transmitted orally (rather than in writing) from generation to generation. The stories of Paul Bunyan are examples of American folklore.