-atóir

Old Irish

Etymology

From Latin -ātor. Cognate with Breton and Welsh -adur.

Suffix

-atóir m

Suffix appended to words to create an agent noun.
‎tuigithir (“to cover”) + ‎-atóir → ‎tugatóir (“thatcher”)

Usage notes

Not very productive in Old Irish, as it is found chiefly in words borrowed from Latin as a whole, e.g. preceptóir < praeceptor, dictatóir < dictātor, senatóir < senātor. Formations using native roots, such as tugatóir (“thatcher”) from tuigithir (“to cover”) are rare; but the suffix becomes increasingly productive in Middle Irish and the modern languages.

Declension

Masculine i-stem
	singular	dual	plural
nominative	-atóir	-atóir^L	-atóiri^H
vocative	-atóir	-atóir^L	-atóiri^H
accusative	-atóir^N	-atóir^L	-atóiri^H
genitive	-atóro^H, -atóra^H	-atóro^H, -atóra^H	-atóire^N
dative	-atóir^L	-atóirib	-atóirib

Initial mutations of a following adjective:

^H = triggers aspiration
^L = triggers lenition
^N = triggers nasalization

Derived terms

Category Old Irish terms suffixed with -atóir not found

Descendants

Manx: -der
Scottish Gaelic: -adair
Irish: -adóir