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-er
quickinfo

The suffix -er, which primarily takes verbs, may also be attached to nouns. The derivations are always nouns with common gender, and their plurals end in -s. Examples are skip ship > skipper captain and wittenskip science > wittenskipper scientist. This nominal -er has an allomorph -ner.

Another suffix -er that is relevant is the one that primarily derives inhabitant names on the basis of geographical names. It has two allomorphs, -ker and -tsjer, that can also derive inhabitant names from common nouns, for example stêd city > stedsjer citizen. The same suffixes also seem to derive profession names that are related to a common noun. For example, it could be assumed that koaltsjer cabbage gardener is related to koal cabbage. However, it seems more plausible to derive koaltsjer from the verbal base koaltsje to grow cabbage, in which case we would have a regular derivation with the suffix -er.

readmore

More information on the suffix -er can be found in the topic on -er with a verb as base.

For the suffixes -ker and -tsjer, see the topic on inhabitant names, in particular the section on the suffixes -ker and -tsjer.

References
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