Lasher

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An individual skilled in using a whip or similar tool for striking or controlling others
2. Someone who wields a whip for hitting or directing others ; an object or part that moves with a whipping or striking motion
3. An individual experienced in handling a whip to strike or control ; a device or appendage that swings or strikes quickly like a whip

Etymology: "Lasher" is about as plain as English agent nouns get: the verb "lash" with the suffix "-er" attached, so that it names whoever performs the action. The verb itself is the more interesting part. "Lash" originally meant a cord or thong, the kind of flexible strip that could be whipped through the air, and the sense of striking with such a cord came from that object. The same word also gave English the sense of tying something down with a rope, and the two meanings have long run side by side. The suffix has a longer ancestry. "-er" comes from Middle English, which inherited it from Old English "-ere", a form descended from the Proto-Germanic suffix that marked a person connected with an activity. Old French supplied a parallel form, "-ier", which came from Latin "-arius", and that Latin suffix also shaped many words English borrowed directly. So "lasher" joins a large family of English agent nouns whose endings trace back through several languages, even though the word itself is a native English formation.