(1.) -tōr- (N. -tor).
[205]. -tōr-, N. -tor, or -sōr-, N. -sor ([159], [202]), is the commonest suffix of the agent; the feminine is -trī-ci-, N. -trī-x. -tōr- is sometimes used in a present sense, of action repeated or occurring at any time, and sometimes in a past sense.
[206]. ([a.]) -tōr- (-sōr-), in the present sense, often denotes one who makes a regular business of the action of the root or verb.
ōrā-tōr-, N. ōrā-tor, spokesman, speaker (ōrā-re); lēc-tor, reader (√leg-, read). Workmen and tradesmen: arā-tor, ploughman, pās-tor, shepherd, pīc-tor, painter, sū-tor, shoemaker. Semi-professional: captā-tor, legacy-hunter, dēlā-tor, professional informer. Government officials: cēn-sor, appraiser, censor, imperā-tor, commander, prae-tor, (leader), praetor, dictā-tor, līc-tor. Of the law: āc-tor, manager, accūsā-tor, accuser, spōn-sor, bondsman, tū-tor, guardian. From presumed verb stems ([202]): sen-ātor, senator (sen-); viā-tor, wayfarer (viā-); fundi-tor, slinger (fundā-). -tro-, N. -ter, has the meaning of -tōr-: as, aus-tro-, N. aus-ter (scorcher), south-wester (√aus-, burn).
[207]. In the present sense -tōr- (-sōr-) is also used to indicate permanent character, quality, capability, tendency, likelihood: as, bellā-tor, a man of war, warlike; dēlīberā-tor, a man of caution; cessā-tor, a loiterer; dērī-sor, a mocker, ironical; cōnsūmp-tor, apt to destroy, destructive; aedificā-tor, building-mad.
[208]. (b.) -tōr- (-sōr-), in a perfect sense, is used particularly in old Latin, or to denote an agent who has acquired a permanent name by a single conspicuous action. In this sense it usually has a genitive of the object, or a possessive pronoun: thus,
castīgā-tor meus, my mentor, or the man who has upbraided me; olīvae inven-tor, the deviser of the olive (Aristaeus); reper-tor vītis, the author of the vine (Bacchus); patriae līberā-tōrēs, the emancipators of the nation.
(2.) -o- (N. -u-s), -ā- (N. -a); -lo- (N. -lu-s); -ōn- (N. -ō).
[209]. -o- and -ā- stems may denote vocation or class; many are compounds. -o-, N. -u-s: coqu-o-, N. coqu-o-s or coc-u-s, cook (√coqu-, cook); causidic-u-s, pleader (causā-, √dic-, speak). -ā-, N. -a: scrīb-ā-, N. scrīb-a, clerk (√scrīb-, write); agricol-a, husbandman (agro-, √col-, till).
[210]. -u-lo-, N. -u-lu-s ([202]): ger-ulo-, N. ger-ulu-s, bearer (√ges-, bear); fig-ulu-s, potter (√fig-, shape, mould).