total

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈtəʊ.təl/, US /ˈtoʊ.təl/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English total (“whole”), borrowed from Old French total,^[2][3][4] from Medieval Latin tōtālis (“entire, total”), as in summa tōtālis (“sum total”),^[2][3][5] from Latin tōtus (“all, whole, entire”),^[3][2][5] a word of unknown or uncertain origin.^[3][2][6] Barnhart thinks it was probably also borrowed directly from Medieval Latin.^[2] Klein suggests that tōtus originally meant “crammed full”, relating it to tumēre (“to swell”).^[6] It is related to totality and totalitarian.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of or relating to the whole of something: about 1386^[8] or 1390, in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.^[2]

Semantic evolution

“Constituting a whole, entire” is from about 1400,^[8] and “complete in degree, utter, absolute” from 1647.^[8] The noun, “the whole amount, sum”, is from the mid-15th century^[3] or 1557.^[2][9] The verb meant “to add up” from 1716^[8][3] and “to amount to” from 1859.^[8][3] Total abstinence from alcohol is from 1831,^[8] and in Scotland and the north total was short for teetotal.^[10] Total war is from 1937, in William Shirer, of a concept developed in Germany.^[3] “To wreck a car completely”, so that the insurer declares it a total loss, is recorded by 1954.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1386 – of the whole (Chaucer).^[8]
• c. 1400 – entire.^[8]
• mid-15th century – noun, the whole amount.^[3]
• 1647 – absolute, utter.^[8]
• 1716 – verb, to add up.^[8][3]
• 1831 – total abstinence.^[8]
• 1859 – verb, to amount to.^[8][3]
• 1937 – total war.^[3]
• 1954 – verb, to wreck a car.^[3]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Of or making up the whole; entire.
2. Complete, utter, absolute: a total failure.

Noun

1. An amount obtained by addition; a sum.
2. A whole quantity; an entirety.

Verb

1. To find the total of; to add up.
2. To amount to.
3. (informal) To wreck completely, as a car.

Word family

• subtotal
• totalism
• totalitarian
• retotal
• supertotal
• totalize
• totality
• totally

Related words

• teetotal

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)