'apiologist' originates from New Latin/Greek, specifically the word 'apiologia' (Latinized form), where 'apis' meant 'bee' and Greek 'logia' (λόγος → -logia) meant 'study'.

'apiologist' changed from the Neo-Latin word 'apiologia' into the English noun 'apiology' (the study of bees), and the agent noun 'apiologist' was later formed in modern English from that base.

Initially it related to the study 'apiology' (the discipline concerning bees), and over time 'apiologist' has come to mean specifically 'a person who studies bees.'