Reconstruction:Proto-Italic/-teros

Inherited from Proto-Indo-European *-teros. Cognate with Ancient Greek -τερος (-teros).

*-teros

1. contrastive or oppositional adjective suffix

   ‎*kom- (with) + ‎*-teros → ‎*komteros (opposite)

   ‎*minōs (less) + ‎*-teros → ‎*minosteros (lesser)

The original Proto-Indo-European morpheme was likely also used as an emphatic suffix. This usage was preserved in terms such as Latin matertera (maternal aunt), which is related to *mātēr (mother). The original function may also be present in certain possessive pronouns, such as *nosteros (ours), related to *nōs (us).

• Latin: -ter, -iter

• De Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN
• Philip Baldi; Pierluigi Cuzzolin (2018), “Indo-European Languages”, in The World's Major Languages‎^[1] (quotation in Undetermined; overall work in English), Routledge, →ISBN, page 154
• Jesse Lundquist; Anthony D. Yates (2018-06-11), 122. The morphology of Proto-Indo-European‎^[2] (quotation in English; overall work in English), De Gruyter Mouton, →DOI, →ISBN, page 2117
• Lukas Kahl (2024), Diachronic Studies in Indo-European Degree Morphology‎^[3] (quotation in English; overall work in English), Harvard University
• Brent Vine (23 October 2017), 48. The morphology of Italic‎^[4] (quotation in English; overall work in English), De Gruyter Mouton, →DOI, →ISBN, pages 751–804
• Blanca María Prósper (1 January 2018), “The Venetic Inscription from Monte Manicola and Three termini publici from Padua: A Reappraisal”, in Journal of Indo-European Studies‎^[5] (quotation in English; overall work in English)
• Warren Cowgill (11 November 2016), Italic and Celtic Superlatives and the Dialects of Indo-European‎^[6] (quotation in English; overall work in English), University of Pennsylvania Press, →DOI, →ISBN, pages 113–154