philomath

Noun

philomath (plural philomaths)

1. (archaic) A lover of learning; a scholar.
   • For this (in my humble opinion, not very important purpose, and fitter to employ the talent of a philomath than a Newton) he and Leibnitz, much about the same, struck out a fluxional method, which they both took for a demonstration.1824, Rev. Philip Skelton, The Complete Works of the Late Rev. Philip Skelton, Rector of Fintona, page 27
   • Jerman for twenty years past had been the author of a Quaker almanac, and had for about the same time been engaged in a fierce almanac warfare with Jacob Taylor, a philomath and a printer of Friends’ books.1896, John Bach McMaster, Benjamin Franklin as a Man of Letters, page 108
2. An astrologer or predictor.
   • "The success of an almanac depended upon the appeal of the "philomath"-the resident astrologer who did the writing and predicting."2007, Thomas Fleming, Benjamin Franklin: Inventing America, Sterling Point Books, age 33