Old Church Slavonic

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”)

Derived terms

Related terms

• -итель ‎(-itelĭ)
• -арь ‎(-arĭ)

Russian

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”)

Declension

Usage notes

• The stress is usually drawn onto the preceding syllable (but see слу́шатель ‎(slúšatelʹ, “listener”)).

Derived terms