tot

Forms

tot (feminine tota, masculine plural tots, feminine plural totes)^[1] Old Catalan had an irregular masculine plural tuit, from the Latin nominative plural, at first used only as a subject; it was in use until about 1400 and antiquated in the 15th century, when tots replaced it.^[2] Old Catalan also wrote the plural totz.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin tōttus (“whole, all”), an emphatic pronunciation of classical tōtus (“the whole of, all”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]}

The form with ⟨tt⟩ underlies Occitan tot, French tout and Italian tutto, while only Spanish todo and Portuguese todo continue the classical single consonant, as their voiced ⟨d⟩ shows.^[2][6] The REW lists the Catalan word with Romanian tot among the outcomes of the Latin word.^[7]

The grammarian Consentius, writing at Narbonne in the 5th century, already censured the pronunciation ⟨tottus⟩.^[2] Coromines explains the double consonant as an intensive pronunciation stressing complete totality; he rejects the explanation of Gröber and Meyer-Lübke, the word said twice over and then contracted in careless speech.^[2][7]

The further origin of the Latin word is unknown: de Vaan finds neither a derivation meaning “stuffed” nor Zimmer's proposal convincing.^[8] Wiktionary mentions a possible link with *toutā (“people”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Coromines finds the Catalan form in documents from the 11th century on: an oath from Vallespir of about 1088 promises to keep something tot “all” without deceit.^[2] In the Homilies d'Organyà it is a neuter pronoun, tot és vanitad “all is vanity”, and an adjective, ab tot vostre cor “with all your heart”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In the Romance languages the Latin word kept its own sense “whole, entire” and also took over that of omnis (“every, all”), which survives only in Italian and Romansh.^[2][6] The medieval texts already use it as a pronoun for “everything”, as an adverb meaning “very” (Desclot, 1283) and as a noun for “the whole” opposed to its parts.^[9]

The use of tot before a gerund (tot rient “laughing all the while”) is old and has no Gallo-Romance model.^[2] Coromines finds it abundant in the 15th century and calls it a genuine Catalan construction.^[2][9] Fixed phrases such as ab tot que “although” appear in the 15th century.^[9]

Its compounds are old: Bruguera dates tostemps “always” to the 14th century in Llull, and tothom “everyone” and sobretot “above all” to the 14th century, citing Jaume I.^[4] The word totestiu, a name of the great tit, is recorded in 1696.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1088 – tot in an oath from Vallespir.^[2]
• c. 1200 – the Homilies d'Organyà use it as adjective and pronoun.^[2]
• 1244 – tot lo capítol and totz los nostres omes in a truce of the bishop of Urgell.^[2]
• 1283 – Desclot uses tot as an adverb, tot cuytosament “in great haste”.^[9]
• c. 1400 – the old plural tuit falls out of use.^[2]
• 1839 – Labèrnia's dictionary heads tot, a.^[10]

Meanings

Determiner

1. whole, entire: Va passar tot el matí a la biblioteca.^[5][3]
2. (invariable before the name of a town or country) The whole of: Ha recorregut tot Mallorca.^[5][3]
3. (in the plural) all, every one: Tots els veïns hi eren.^[3][1]

Pronoun

1. everything, all things: Ja ho tinc tot a punt.^[11][1]
2. amb tot (or tot amb tot): nevertheless.^[11]
3. i tot: even, too.^[11]
4. tot i: despite.^[11] tot i que: although.^[11]

Adverb

1. completely, entirely, usually agreeing with the adjective it modifies: La paret ha quedat tota negra.^[11][5]
2. (before a gerund) Stressing that two actions are simultaneous, or that one goes against the other: Ens ho explicava tot caminant.^[11][5]

Noun

1. The whole, a thing considered with all its parts together.^[5][3]

Word family

• atot
• pertot
• sobretot
• tostemps
• totestiu
• tothom
• tothora
• totpoderós

Related words

• Latin tōtus
• Occitan tot
• Spanish todo

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 8, 659
3. ^ a b c d e Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. tot
4. ^ a b c Bruguera, Jordi (1996), Diccionari etimològic, Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, p. 913
5. ^ a b c d e f Enciclopèdia Catalana, Gran diccionari de la llengua catalana (GDLC), Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana; online edition, https://www.diccionari.cat, p. s.v. tot
6. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 528
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 8815
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b c d Faraudo de Saint-Germain, Lluís, Vocabulari de la llengua catalana medieval, online edition, Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, p. s.v. tot
10. ^ Labèrnia, Pere (1839–1840), Diccionari de la llengua catalana ab la correspondencia castellana y llatina, 2 vols., Barcelona, p. s.v. tot
11. ^ a b c d e f g Institut d'Estudis Catalans (2007), Diccionari de la llengua catalana, 2nd ed. (DIEC2), Barcelona: Edicions 62; online edition with later updates, https://dlc.iec.cat, p. s.v. tot