libationer

Etymology

From libation + -er.

Why this word is great

LIBATIONER — [Noun] A priest or scholar who performs libation rituals, pouring liquid offerings to gods or ancestors, or a venerated academic in historical China. From Latin libatio ("a pouring out as an offering") + -er (agent noun suffix). Unlike "priest" (a broad title for any cleric) or "scholar" (a learned person without ritual obligation), the libationer is both custodian of knowledge and conduit for the divine. It is the steady hand tilting a bronze vessel over flames, the amber wine arcing into the temple basin, the murmured incantation as rice wine soaks into soil—a reminder that wisdom, like devotion, begins with an offering.

noun

A priest or religious official who conducts a libation ritual, in which a drink is poured as an offering to a divinity or ancestor.“That the libation was the all-important element at this ceremony is further illustrated by the fact that a regular attribute of Isis as the chief officiant thereat is ḳbḥ∙ t “the (female) libationer” (id., pp. 13, 55, 56).”
A Taoist religious office analogous to that of parish priest.“Harming other people or bullying them because the libationer is in a position of power or has connexions with people in power is also proscribed (60, 92).”
The head of the Chinese Imperial College (Han dynasty through the Qing dynasty), and, by extension, any of the most highly respected scholars during that time period.“Take the libationer of the Imperial College, for instance, who is my tutor.”