'index-maker' originates from modern English as a compound of 'index' and 'maker'. 'index' originates from Latin, specifically the word 'index', where the root 'indic-' meant 'to point out, show'. 'maker' originates from Old English, specifically the verb 'macian' (to make) and the agent-forming suffix that produced 'maker'.

'index' entered English via Latin 'index' and Old French 'indice' and became Middle English 'index'/'indice', eventually the modern English 'index'. 'maker' developed from Old English 'macian' (verb) and the agent noun formed in Middle English as 'maker', leading to the modern English noun 'maker'.

Initially, 'index' meant 'a pointer or sign' in Latin, and over time it evolved into the sense of an organized list; 'maker' originally meant 'one who makes' and has retained that general meaning into modern usage, so the compound now means 'one who makes an index'.