ETYMOLOGY
from controvertist (a person who engages in argument or controversy) [from controvertere (in logic, to invert; to argue, to dispute, to oppose)] + ‑ical
EXAMPLE
“…The Company began to Smile at this odd Rodomontade, but Eudoxus told him, in controvertistical Debates, there was no Appeal from Reason to the Sword; that it was more prudent to confess Errors, than to defend ’em; to cancel past Crimes, than to commit new ones …”
From: A Gentleman Instructed in the True Principles of Religion
By William Darrell. 1707
Lexicophilia 