Honestly Zanos' comment made me re-research what I said (at least with regards to Netheril: Empire of Magic), and although it does claim that 'arcanist' is "Netheril's name for a wizard" (p.5), the effective stats of the class (p.18) appear, to me, akin to the "spell points" variant from 3rd Edition's Unearthed Arcana; each arcanist also specialized in either "inventives," "mentalisms," or "variations" (see "Netherese arcanist" from Player's Guide to Faerûn; there was no "generalist" arcanist).

…however if an arcanist failed to learn a spell, he failed to learn it forever. Eep.