Provers

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A group of individuals who formulate or share sayings that express general truths or observations about life
2. people engaged in the art of creating adages or maxims
3. those who contribute to a body of traditional wisdom through expressions of popular beliefs

Etymology: "Provers" is the plural of "prover," meaning one who proves or tests something. The word is built from "prove" plus the agent suffix "-er," and that suffix has a long pedigree: it passed from Latin "-arius" through Old French "-ier" and reached English through Old English "-ere" and Middle English "-er," all of which were used to form words for people who perform an action. The suffix's journey explains why it turns up so widely in English. Latin "-arius" marked people connected with a trade or role, and it spread through Romance languages before entering English by several routes. The Old English form "-ere" was already attached to native verbs, so when English later borrowed or coined words with this ending, the sound had been familiar to speakers for centuries.

Synonyms: testers, examiners, inspectors, validators, checkers