negotiant
nounEtymology From French négociant, or its source, Latin negōtiant-, probably via Italian negoziante (“merchant”).
1
Archaic, Historical Someone who conducts negotiations; a negotiator, an agent.
- Ambassadors, negotiants, and generally all other ministers of mean fortune, in conversation with princes and superiors, must use great respect1658, Walter Raleigh, The Cabinet-Council:
2
Obsolete A trader or merchant; a businessman; a financier.
- Such was the scarcity of bread, that a French gentleman told me, that, the day preceding the taking of the Bastille, he was invited to dine with a Negotiant, and, when he went, was informed that a servant had been out five hours in search of bread, and had at last been able to purchase only one loaf.1790, Helen Maria Williams, Letters Written in France, Broadview Press, published 2002, page 75: