Where does “-er” come from?

-er (Dutch) comes from Old Dutch -āri, from Proto-Germanic -ārijaz, from Latin -ārius, from Proto-Italic *-āzios — Forms relational adjectives to nouns (and rarely numerals).

-er (Dutch): Forms agent nouns from verbs; Forms nouns for a...

Definitions

  1. Forms agent nouns from verbs; Forms nouns for a...

Ancestry of “-er”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Old Dutch-āri—
2Proto-Germanic-ārijaz-er
3Latin-āriuser
4Proto-Italic*-āziosForms relational adjectives to nouns (and rarely numerals)

Words derived from “-er”

Every word from Proto-Italic *-āzios →Every word from Latin -ārius →Every word from Proto-Germanic -ārijaz →