-tor

Meaning

-er; used to form masculine agent nouns from verbs

Pronounced as (IPA)

[tɔr]

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *-tōr, from Proto-Indo-European *-tōr < *-tor-s. The -ō- from the nominative singular form was extended to all other forms by analogy; then word-final -ōr was shortened to -or by regular Latin sound laws, producing the Classical Latin paradigm with short -o- in the nominative singular and long -ō- elsewhere. Cognate to Sanskrit -तृ (-tṛ) (nominative singular -ता m sg (-tā)) and Ancient Greek -τωρ (-tōr), as well as -τήρ (-tḗr) from a separate ablaut *-tḗr. Compare Latin -trum (instrumental suffix), from Proto-Indo-European *-tr-o-m (instrumental suffix).