suitor (n.)

c. 1300, sutour, "a frequenter;" late 14c., "follower, disciple," from Anglo-French seutor, suitor or directly from Late Latin secutor "follower, pursuer," from sect- past participle stem of sequi "to follow" (from PIE root *sekw- (1) "to follow").

The meaning "plaintiff in a lawsuit, party to a litigation" is from mid-15c. The meaning "one who seeks (the hand of a woman) in marriage" is from 1580s. For fem. form suitress (1714), OED quoted Rowe's "Jane Shore," Cowper, and The Daily Telegraph.