-тель

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *-teljь.

Suffix

-тел҄ь • (-telʹĭ)

1. -er, -or; Deverbative nominalizing suffix used to create a masculine agent noun. Usually derived from infinitive (or "aorist") stem of verbs, rarely from root-class verbs, such as:

   • дати (dati, “to give”) + -тел҄ь (-telʹĭ) → дател҄ь (datelʹĭ, “giver”)
   • власти (vlasti, “to rule”) + -тел҄ь (-telʹĭ) → властел҄ь (vlastelʹĭ, “ruler”)

   Some nouns derive from infinitive stem in -а- or -ѣ-:

   • дѣлати (dělati, “to do, work”) + -тел҄ь (-telʹĭ) → дѣлател҄ь (dělatelʹĭ, “worker”)
   • съвѣдѣти (sŭvěděti, “to witness, testify”) + -тел҄ь (-telʹĭ) → лъжесъвѣдѣтел҄ь (lŭžesŭvědětelʹĭ, “false witness”)

   The most common are the nouns with infinitive in -и-:

   • гонити (goniti, “to persecute”) + -тел҄ь (-telʹĭ) → гонител҄ь (gonitelʹĭ, “persecutor”)
   • гоубити (gubiti, “to destroy”) + -тел҄ь (-telʹĭ) → гоубител҄ь (gubitelʹĭ, “destroyer”)

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *-teljь. Cognate to Old Church Slavonic -тель (-telĭ), Serbo-Croatian -telj and Czech -tel.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [tʲɪlʲ]

Suffix

-тель • (-telʹ) m

1. -er (a suffix appended to words to create a masculine noun, usually denoting a profession, performer of an action or a human relation)

   писа́ть (pisátʹ, “to write”) → писа́тель (pisátelʹ, “writer”)

   предста́вить (predstávitʹ, “to represent”) → представи́тель (predstavítelʹ, “representative”)