Courtier (n.) "one who attends the court of a sovereign," from Anglo-French *corteour, from Old French cortoiier "to be at court, dwell at court," from cort "king's court; royal home" see court (n.). Meaning "a civil servant attached to a monarchical government department" first recorded 1580s. Modern sense of "someone who performs menial tasks for or serves an important person" is derived from courtier. The -er suffix is added to many words to indicate a person or thing that does something mechanical or simple but effective. The words seem to fall into two main groups: those referring to people (courteous, diligent, honest) and those describing objects (curved, sharp, clear). Many words ending in -er are also spelled with a y instead (huge, minor, major). This spelling difference occurs with some regularity and usually indicates that one word is used in reference to people and another word is used when referring to things. In this case, courtier refers to someone who works at the court of a king or queen, while corteour refers to someone who lives at the court of a king or queen. Some words have different forms depending on their part of speech. Courtier can be a noun, verb, or adjective.