BulletMagnetX wrote: »

It comes from the Latin term "arcanum" meaning "secret". In the 18th century, arcanists were people who knew of secrets related to pottery, in particular that of making true porcelain, which was known exclusively by the Chinese until 1707. There are several known and named arcanists in real European history, such as Joseph Jakob Ringler, Robert Dubois, and Paul-Antoine Hannong and his sons Joseph-Adam and Pierre-Antoine.

In the modern age the term has come to be used for magical knowledge, stemming from authors who found it to be a useful word for magical knowledge that would have been kept hidden, ie secret knowledge of creating magic. Other creators since derived the term in relation to magic, sometimes retaining the connection to secrecy, but more often forgetting it.

We see the term in the likes of D&D and Pathfinder, where "Arcana" is a knowledge skill related to magic. And in Pathfinder the Arcanist player class, designed as a fusion of the principles of the Wizard and Sorcerer class, is described as a magical scholar, and like the wizard, they store and derive their magical knowledge in and from their spell book.

The book of magic is a common theme whenever the term "arcana" and related terms appears in fantasy. Indeed, magical secrets are almost always hidden away in books and scrolls (very rarely are they kept in other ways). And for the Daedric Lord or Knowledge, who hordes lost and forbidden tomes of all kinds within his realm, it makes perfect sense that those who derive their magical power from the secrets within and channel it through a magical book of inconceivable knowledge would call themselves Arcanists.

"Cultists"? "Warlocks"? Perhaps. But these would generally be terms used by other people who distrust them. "Arcanist" is most likely the name they gave themselves, and they are very lucky indeed that it appears to be the one that stuck.

CamelhairNerve wrote: »

Few cultists call themselves cultists (if any).

In the far-flung future, the Cult of Mora could be a name applied to them by others having no defined name.

Also, cult isn't a classification of abilities but of organization. You can have cultists who are botanists, civil engineers, accountants, musicians, masseuses, and whatever all for the sake of the cult.

As for Warlock, how does Tamriel define that? There are some terminology used in Tamrielic lore that doesn't match with RL historic words. The etymology of RL words often have not applied in-lore.

The only problem I'm having is how tightly the definition of Arcanist in ancient Tamriel is tied to HM. You cannot have an Arcanist of Zenithar or Jode. If you're Arcanist, you're HM. Full stop.