to

Forms

tō^[1] Unstressed by-form te.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *tō, from Proto-Germanic *tō (“to”).^[1][4] The word is shared by the West Germanic languages: Old Frisian tō, Old Saxon tō and Old High German zuo.^[4][5] Beside it stand forms with a short vowel, the by-form te with te, te and zi.^[4][2] Etymonline notes that the word is missing in Scandinavian, which uses the word that gave English till in its place.^[6]

Outside Germanic, Orel compares Latin dōnec (“until”), Latvian da (“until”) and Proto-Slavic *do (“to”).^[4] Holthausen adds Old Irish do and the Greek suffix Ancient Greek -δε (-de).^[2] Köbler traces the Germanic form to Proto-Indo-European *dō- (“hither, to”), a form of the particle Proto-Indo-European *de-, following Pokorny.^[3][5] Wiktionary takes it from *doh₁, an instrumental of *de (“to, towards”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is in the oldest English glosses: the Épinal Glossary, written at the end of the seventh century or about 700, renders Latin “ad expensas” by to nyttum “for uses”.^[7][8][9] A second Épinal gloss, stalu to fuglum, stands over Latin “unibrellas”.^[10] The will of the reeve Abba (833×839), which survives in a single sheet held to be contemporary, has ðæt hit foe to londe æfter me “that it should succeed to the land after me”.^[11][9]

Semantic evolution

With the dative it marks the end of motion, literal or figurative (change of state, purpose, the end of an extent), and also position beside something and a point of time; with the genitive, the accusative and the instrumental it has fewer uses (tō hwī “why”).^[12] It also marks the inflected infinitive (tō dōnne).^[12][1] In Beowulf weorðan tō means “to become” and tō sōðe “for certain”.^[13]

Used without a noun, the adverb means “thereto, towards”, “in addition, besides”, and before adjectives and adverbs “too”, as in the Wanderer's ne tō hātheort, ne tō hrædwyrde “not too hot-hearted, nor too hasty of speech”.^[12][1] The preposition and the adverb lived on as Middle English to, now English to; the stressed form came to be spelt too in early Modern English.^[6]

Timeline

• s. vii ex. or vii/viii – to nyttum glossing “ad expensas” in the Épinal Glossary.^[7][8][9]
• 833×839 – foe to londe in Abba's will, a contemporary single sheet.^[11][9]
• s. ix¹ – the word in the Corpus Glossary.^[14][9]
• s. x² – the adverb “too” in the Wanderer (Exeter Book): ne sceal nō tō hātheort.^[1][15]

Meanings

Preposition

1. with the dative, of motion: to, towards, into.^[12][3]
2. of a change of state: to, into; with weorðan, “to become”.^[12][13]
3. of aim or purpose: for, as, in the role of.^[12][13][1]
4. of position: at, by, next to.^[12]
5. of time: at.^[12]
6. (grammar) marking the inflected infinitive.^[12][1]

Adverb

1. to, towards, thereto (with a noun understood).^[12]
2. in addition, besides, also.^[12][3]
3. before adjectives and adverbs: too, excessively.^[12][1]

Word family

• tōweard
• tōgædere
• tōgēanes
• intō
• þærtō
• hwǣrtō
• tōcyme
• tōcuman

Descendants

• Middle English to (→ English to; English too; Scots tae)^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 350
3. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. tō
4. ^ a b c d Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 408
5. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Pheifer, J. D. (1974), Old English Glosses in the Épinal-Erfurt Glossary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 96
8. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 610
9. ^ a b c d e Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
10. ^ Pheifer, J. D. (1974), Old English Glosses in the Épinal-Erfurt Glossary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 145
11. ^ a b The Electronic Sawyer: Online Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon Charters, revised ed. by S. E. Kelly and R. Rushforth, King's College London / University of Cambridge, esawyer.lib.cam.ac.uk, p. S 1482
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 989
13. ^ a b c Fulk, R. D.; Bjork, Robert E.; Niles, John D., eds. (2008), Klaeber's Beowulf and The Fight at Finnsburg, 4th ed., Toronto: University of Toronto Press (glossary), p. s.v. tō
14. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 76
15. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 223