-stersuffix

In Old English -estre was freely used to form feminine agent nouns, in exactly the same manner in which -ere (-er suffix¹) was used to form masculine agent nouns. Thus it was appended to the present stems of verbs, as in lǽrestre female teacher, hoppestre female dancer, and to certain monosyllabic nouns of action as in sangestre songstress, séamestre seamstress, lybbestre female poisoner or witch. In a few instances feminine agent nouns were formed by the substitution of -estre for the masculine suffix -a (:—-jon-), as in bigengestre feminine of bigenga cultivator, worshipper, webestre (webster n.¹) beside webbe as feminine of webba weaver. Lattéow, leader, functionally an agent noun though without agentive suffix, gave rise to a feminine lættewestre. An anomalous formation is huntigestre (instead of *huntestre) huntress which occurs once as a variant reading for hunticge.In Old English the suffix may be said to have retained its original function, for the few instances in which it is used as a masculine are renderings of Latin designations of men exercising functions which among the English were peculiar to women, as byrdistræ embroiderer (gl. blaciarius, primicularius), bæcestre baker (gl. pistor), séamestre tailor (gl. sartor), wæscestre washer (gl. fullo).In northern Middle English, however, perhaps owing to the frequent adoption by men of trades like weaving, baking, tailoring, etc., the suffix came very early to be used, indiscriminately with -er suffix¹, as an agentive ending irrespective of gender; thus in the Cursor Mundi (a1300) demestre (see dempster n.) appears instead of demere (deemer n.), a judge, bemestre instead of bemer a trumpeter. It is probable that -ster was often preferred to -er as more unambiguously referring to the holder of a professional function, as distinguished from the doer of an occasional act. In Scotland, baxter and webster survived as masculines down to the 19th cent. The only word of this formation that in Scotland has remained exclusively feminine is sewster n. In the south the suffix continued to be predominantly feminine throughout the Middle English period. The Old English formations, baxter, seamster, tapster, were in southern English usually feminine before 1500; many new designations of occupation, originally feminine, arose in Middle English as bellringestre, hordestre treasurer (Winteney Rule St. Benet, 13th cent.), hotestre feminine of hotere commander (Ayenbite), brewster, dyester, litster, throwster, huckster; also spinster, which alone of the group has survived (though with change of sense) solely as a feminine. A few feminines in -estere were formed to correspond to masculines in -er(e of French origin: fruitestere, tumbestere, tumblestere, wafrestere. As a feminine suffix of purely agentive import, -ster was in the 14th cent. still used for new formations by some writers, but was generally replaced by the French -eresse. Thus MS. Bodl. 277 of the Wyclif Bible has chesister, daunster, dwelster, weilster, where other copies have cheseresse, daunseresse (leperesse), dwelleresse, weileresse.From the 16th cent. onwards the older words in -ster, so far as they survived, have been regarded as masculines, and several of them have given rise to feminines in -ess, as backstress, seamstress, songstress, huckstress. In the modern English period the suffix has been very productive, but it is doubtful whether any of the new formations are really derived from verbs; in every instance in which this would be formally possible there is a noun of the same form as the verb, and the derivative is (in present feeling at least) associated rather with the noun than the verb so in gamester, rhymester (late 16th cent.), drugster (1611; but cf. druggister n.), and the much later dabster, jokester, punster, trickster, tipster. The formation here imitates that of trade designations; hence the disparaging sense, e.g. in rhymester, jokester, as compared with rhymer, joker. An anomalous use is that in rubster (17th cent.) something used to rub with.In the 16th cent. two formations on adjectives occur: youngster (after which oldster was formed later) and lewdster.