On Breton meliner ‘miller’ and other agent noun derivatives with Latin ‑ātor

Abstract

This paper investigates the Breton word for ‘miller’, meliner, miliner. At first sight, it appears to be a completely regular derivative formed with -er deriving from Latin ‑ārius. However, an investigation of the relevant forms reveals that this is not the case. Rather, the attested forms point to a derivative with the rarer agent noun suffix deriving from Latin ‑ātor.

Keywords

• dialectology
• phonology
• linguistics
• Breton (language)
• morphology
• Cornish (language)