arcanist means A craftsman who has knowledge of a manufacturing secret (specifically in the area of porcelain manufacturing). Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
arcanist is pronounced /ɑː(ɹ)ˈkeɪnɪst/.
Why “arcanist” is a great word
ARCANIST — [Noun] A person who possesses or studies secret knowledge, especially a craftsman privy to manufacturing secrets like those of porcelain, or a scholar of religious mysteries. From arcane (from Latin arcanus, "secret, hidden") + -ist (agent suffix); the specific sense of a craftsman with secret porcelain knowledge was borrowed from German Arcanist. Unlike a wizard, which implies a practitioner of magic, or a craftsman, which denotes any skilled worker, an arcanist is defined by the custody of the hidden. He is the alchemist in a locked workshop measuring vitreous ash, the guildsman sworn to silence over the porcelain glaze, the scribe illuminating forbidden glyphs in a scriptorium’s gloom—a keeper of thresholds, whose power lies not in what is done, but in what is known only to a few.
Etymology
From arcane + -ist; in the sense of a craftsman with secret knowledge about porcelain manufacturing, borrowed from German Arcanist.
noun
- A craftsman who has knowledge of a manufacturing secret (specifically in the area of porcelain manufacturing).“1799, William Tooke (translator), The Life of Catherine II. Empress of Russia, by Jean-Henri Castéra, London: Longman and Rees, 3rd edition, Volume 1, Preliminaries, Section 3, p. 36,
The porcelain manufactory likewise entertains, excepting the modellers and arcanists, none but russian workmen […]”
- A person who studies arcana or religious mysteries.“[Catechumens] had Prayers for themselves, but were not admitted to hear the Prayers of the Faithful, which were peculiar to the Celebration of the Eucharist, from which Catechumens were excluded, But all this was, and might be done, without favouring in the least the vain Pretences of the Modern Arcanists: For in all this there was no Design to conceal such Mysteries as the Worship of Saints, and ”