Exhorters

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. One who strongly encourages or urges others to take action or adopt a particular viewpoint
2. A person who entreats or advocates for specific behaviors or beliefs, often with fervor
3. An individual who passionately promotes or pushes for a course of action among a group or audience

Etymology: "Exhorters" is the plural of "exhorter," which is simply "exhort" with the agent suffix "-er" added. The noun "exhort" came into English from Latin "exhortari," meaning to encourage or urge on, built from "ex-" (out, thoroughly) and "hortari" (to urge, encourage). The "-er" ending has a longer pedigree: it descends from Latin "-arius," which passed through Old French "-ier" and Middle English "-er," while the same ending had earlier entered Old English as "-ere," showing that English was already using this suffix for people who perform an action long before the Norman period. The result is a transparent word: an exhorter is literally one who urges, and the plural simply counts such people. The suffix has been doing this job in English since the Old English period, which is why the word feels so unremarkable in use.