The etymology of "amateur", according to the Online Etymology Dictionary, is:
1784, "one who has a taste for (something)," from French amateur "lover of," from Latin amatorem (nominative amator) "lover," agent noun from amatus, past participle of amare "to love" (see Amy).
Yet in English, this has taken the connotation of unprofessional (as in, not done for money) and, from there, even inept or unskillful.
In Romanian, the word "amator" preserves the meaning from the etymolgy, meaning somebody who enjoys doing something. Someone can even walk around with a wine bottle, asking "Cine e amator?, meaning, "who [cine] is [e] up for doing this [amator]/who wants to do this?", in this case meaning "who is up for some wine?"
I wanted to post a partial answer to a StackOverflow question, saying it is "for future *amateurs", i.e., for people in the future who will enjoy tackling the question and can thus use my answer as a jumping-off point. Yet this would sound weird and perhaps even taunting, which is not my intention.
What would the equivalent word in English be – someone who enjoys doing something – even if it doesn't come from the same Latin root? There are various "…(o)phile" words but they are all specific – is there a general term that would be apt here?
Best Answer
Enthusiast does not connote unskillful, though it may retain the "non-professional" connotation of amateur: