I've noticed that many Latin verbs can be turned into nouns (like the English do and doer). But, what's the process of this in Latin? I can find some terms in dictionaries, but most don't seem to have entries for such a thing.
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3Root of the 4th principal part of the verb (root of participle, so-to-speak) followed by -or (-rix for feminine). Facere --> factus --> factor (factrix); dare --> datus --> dator. Is that what you are looking for? – Rafael Mar 07 '17 at 14:58
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1You might be interested in this old question. – Joonas Ilmavirta Mar 07 '17 at 15:32
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Assuming we're in a codified state (from the tags), there are two primary ways. The first is use the present participle as a substantive. E.g. Cic. Div. 68.141 (from G-L § 437):
Nihil est magnum somnianti
Nothing is great to a dreamer (= to one dreaming)
Be careful, though, because in the ablative singular the ending is an e instead of an i when it's used this way. This works for both the masculine and feminine.
The other way is to take the fourth principal part (i.e. either the perfect passive participal or the supine*, drop the ending, and add or to it. For example, take the word servo, servare, "to save." The fourth principal part is servatus, which would give is servator, "savior." The feminine form would be servatrix. For neuter nouns, the ending is -trum, which is how we get words like rostrum (from rodere).
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1+1. Since OP specified "person or thing", you might mention neuter -rum also. – Draconis Mar 07 '17 at 18:25
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Thanks! So lover would be amator/amatrix, speaker as dicitor/dicitrix, and hater would become irator/iratrix? – Middle School Historian Mar 08 '17 at 14:40
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1@MiddleSchoolHistorian The fourth principal part of dicere is dictus, but yeah, you have the principle down. – cmw Mar 08 '17 at 15:05