The story
- Englishzo-
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂er-der.?
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂ergʰ-der.?
- Ancient Greekἄρχω (árkhō)
- Ancient Greekἀρχή (arkhḗ)
- Ancient Greekἀρχαῖος (arkhaîos)
- Proto-Indo-European*leǵ-
- Proto-Indo-European*lóǵos
- Proto-Hellenic*lógos
- Ancient Greekλόγος (lógos)
- Ancient Greekἀρχαιολογίᾱ (arkhaiologíā)
- Englisharchaeolog(y)
- Englisharchaeologist
- English todayzoarchaeologist
From zo- + archaeologist, omitting the superfluous -o- (unnecessary because archaeologist begins with a vowel).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.