Where does “-er” come from?

-er (Saterland Frisian) comes from Old Frisian -ere, from Proto-West Germanic -ārī, from Proto-Germanic -ārijaz, from Latin -ārius, from Proto-Italic *-āzios — Forms relational adjectives to nouns (and rarely numerals).

-er (Saterland Frisian): Forms agent nouns from verbs; -er

Definitions

  1. Forms agent nouns from verbs; -er

Ancestry of “-er”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Old Frisian-ere—
2Proto-West Germanic-ārī-er
3Proto-Germanic-ārijaz-er
4Latin-āriuser
5Proto-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 →