hoplologist means someone who is an expert in weapons and armour (especially military uses or knowledge thereof). Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
Why “hoplologist” is a great word
HOPLOLOGIST — [Noun] A scholar specializing in the systematic study of arms and armour, tracing their evolution, construction, and martial application. From hoplology (from Greek hoplon (“weapon, tool”) + -logy (“study of”)) + -ist (“one who practices”). Unlike an “armourer” (who forges and mends) or a “military historian” (who chronicles campaigns and strategy), the hoplologist focuses on the artefact itself as a primary text. It is the knowing heft of a pattern-welded sword, the forensic examination of a Bronze Age spearhead, and the tracing of a subtle curve in a samurai’s blade that speaks of an entire school of combat—a discipline that reads, in the cold grammar of steel, the concrete poetry of human conflict.
Etymology
From hoplology + -ist.
noun
- Someone who is an expert in weapons and armour (especially military uses or knowledge thereof).“There was, however, one notorious weapon that he had not got, and that he, or any hoplologist the world over, would give half his collection to possess.”