Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Linguist

Linguist (lin"gwist) , noun

[Latin lingua tongue, speech, language: compare French linguiste.]

1.
A master of the use of language; a talker. [Obsolete]
I'll dispute with him; He's a rare linguist. — J. Webster
2.
A person skilled in languages.
There too were Gibbon, the greatest historian, and Jones, the greatest linguist, of the age. — Macaulay