That's not a suffix. The suffix "-an" creates an adjective for a person or thing being of a particular group (e.g., American, Mexican, Andorran, etc.). When the prior syllable ends in I or IA, you get "-ian" (e.g., Italian, Catalonian, etc.). Occasionally, the adjective evolves before the actual noun for the group it describes, so when that happens, the adjective is back-formed to turn that adjective into a noun. One way of performing that back formation is by replacing the N with a T. That's how "proletarian" became "proletariat."
"Proletarian" and "proletariat" derive from the Latin root word "letari." "Pro" is a prefix. "-(i)an" and "-(i)at" are suffices.
In Latin, the "letari" in "proletariat" derives from "laeta" meaning joy. The prefix "pro" means forward. "Pro" and "laeta" came together to become "proles," meaning offspring or posterity, pointing to the joy of bringing forth children. The adjectival declension of "proles" is "proletari." "Proletarius" in Latin then came to mean a man whose only wealth was his offspring, a man whose sole service to the state was as a father. The English adjective "proletarian" derived from Latin's "proletarius" to describe such people, specifically the working poor since fathers must labor in order to support their children. The noun "proletariat" became a back formation of "proletarian" as a collective noun for proletarian people.
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That's not a suffix. The suffix "-an" creates an adjective for a person or thing being of a particular group (e.g., American, Mexican, Andorran, etc.). When the prior syllable ends in I or IA, you get "-ian" (e.g., Italian, Catalonian, etc.). Occasionally, the adjective evolves before the actual noun for the group it describes, so when that happens, the adjective is back-formed to turn that adjective into a noun. One way of performing that back formation is by replacing the N with a T. That's how "proletarian" became "proletariat."
"Proletarian" and "proletariat" derive from the Latin root word "letari." "Pro" is a prefix. "-(i)an" and "-(i)at" are suffices.
In Latin, the "letari" in "proletariat" derives from "laeta" meaning joy. The prefix "pro" means forward. "Pro" and "laeta" came together to become "proles," meaning offspring or posterity, pointing to the joy of bringing forth children. The adjectival declension of "proles" is "proletari." "Proletarius" in Latin then came to mean a man whose only wealth was his offspring, a man whose sole service to the state was as a father. The English adjective "proletarian" derived from Latin's "proletarius" to describe such people, specifically the working poor since fathers must labor in order to support their children. The noun "proletariat" became a back formation of "proletarian" as a collective noun for proletarian people.
That's not a suffix. At least not in English.