Etymologically
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Pronunciation

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