Nage vs Tori?

Hello! I am writing an ethnography for my cultural anthropology class on Aikidoka. Primarily it is going to be on the culture of my own organization, but I also wanted to include some general Aikido information as well. We only use the word nage, but I have heard people here refer to the person performing the technique as tori. Could someone please give me a literal definition of both of those words, and possibly explain why one would be preferred over the other in your own style/dojo? Or even better, if someone uses both, but in specific circumstances.

Any help would be appreciated!

Thank you!

Nage = thrower
Tori = performer

I use them interchangeably, and I don't think there is any particular meaning to it. Sorry to disappoint.

Robin is right nage comes from throw so it would not really be technically accurate to use it for immobilization techniques.

Shité is used in some dojos. It means something like the main protagonist or leading rôle.

Tori is the active partner or the one who seizes control. Only tori and uke are used in judo kata terminology.

Robin Boyd wrote: Nage = thrower Tori = performer I use them interchangeably, and I don't think there is any particular meaning to it. Sorry to disappoint.

No disappointment at all! Thanks so much!

The way this was explained to me long time ago by several of my sensei was that nage and uke described a situation of something that has happened. So if we look at a contest we do not know in advance who is nage or uke. Only after the contest can we say mr. A was nage and mr. B was uke.
In a kata we already know who will take which part. So it is determined in advance who is nage and who is uke. Even though we do not have real formal kata in Aikido, the techniques do tend to have a fixed form and we do know in advance who is taking the role of nage or uke.
But if we leave that approach behind and practice more free, then we can no longer say in advance who will be nage of uke. It depends on the outcome - there may not even be a throw or immobilisation in the end.
In that way of training the words Shite and Aite seem to be more appropriate. The words come from the Japanese theater (Zeami - the Japanese "Shakespeare" emphasized them) and express equality of both opponents (in and yo). It is said that O Sensei preferred Shite and Aite instead of Nage and Uke.
Tom

From my research on the Japanese language: nage/uke (throw/receive) shite/tori (do/grab). All the words are truncated or changed according to the language rules.

nage/nageru
uke/ukeru
shite/suru
tori/toriru