-or

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology | 1996 | 447 words | Copyright

-or1 suffix of agent-nouns repr. ult. (i) L. -or chiefly as appended to pp. stems, as in the comp. forms -TOR, -ATOR, -itor, and -(s)sor (e.g. censor, oppressor, sponsor); (ii L. -ātōrem, -itōrem (nom. -ātor, -itor), whence OF. -ëo(u)r, later and mod. -eur (see -OUR1). It has been generalized in legal use for the terms corr. to those in -EE1. In, e.g., bachelor, chancellor, sailor, -or has superseded other endings.

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T. F. HOAD. "-or." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

T. F. HOAD. "-or." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-or3.html

T. F. HOAD. "-or." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Retrieved February 10, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-or3.html

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