devotee

[lekal]

Dear friends,
According to the rule of word formation in English, the suffix -ee indicates that the word is the recipient of the action. However, in the case of "dovotee," it refers to the doer of the action "devote," so theoretically it should be "devoter," right? What do you think about this? Are there any other words like this?

 

[entangledbank]

Historically it's a (French) past/passive participle:

employee = one who is employed (compare: employer = one who employs another)
devotee = one who is devoted (to something)

You can devote yourself to something (a hobby, a cause, a religion, etc.), but often we say it in the passive: we are devoted to the thing.