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. 2018

Examples from the Web for folklorist

Historical Examples of folklorist

Only recently has she been indicated as her nation's first folklorist and feminist!
Brazilian Tales
Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis
There is still to notice the unsatisfactory attitude of the folklorist.
Folklore as an Historical Science
George Laurence Gomme
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
Afanasiev, Alexander Nicolaievitsh, Russian folklorist, born in 1826.
The New Gresham Encyclopedia. Vol. 1 Part 1
Various

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

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).

folklorist in Culture

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.