todo

Forms

todo m (feminine toda, masculine plural todos, feminine plural todas, diminutive todito)^[1] Old Spanish shortened it to tod before a vowel, as in the Cid and in Alfonso X's tod omne.^[2][3] In colloquial speech it is shortened, written to or tó.^[1] The diminutive todito is mainly American and Andalusian.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish todo, inherited from Latin tōtus (“whole, entire”).^[4][5][6][1] In Romance it also took over the meaning of omnis (“every, all”), which left traces only in Italian and Rhaeto-Romance.^[4]

Only Castilian and Portuguese todo (with tudo) continue the classical form; the other Romance languages chose an emphatic Vulgar Latin *tottus, whence Catalan tot, French tout and Italian tutto, and it reached as far as the old Aragonese form toto.^[4][7]

The origin of the Latin adjective is unclear: de Vaan finds neither a derivation from a participle meaning “stuffed” nor Zimmer's analysis convincing.^[8] Wiktionary mentions a possible link with Oscan touto (“people”), from Proto-Italic *toutā, and Gómez de Silva derives it from an Indo-European word for “people”;^[1][9][10] Bénaben calls the origin not well established.^[1][9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas finds the word in the Glosas Emilianenses and Silenses, of about 950, and in the Cantar de mio Cid.^[4][5] In the Cid it renders both Latin omnis and totus, and rarely follows the noun, as in la tierra toda “the whole land”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's prose already has the main senses: “whole”, “every” before a singular noun without article, and the adverb “entirely”.^[3] Old Spanish todo siempre meant “always without fail” in texts of the 12th to 15th centuries.^[4] The compound todavía first meant “always, constantly” (1220–1250), as it did until the 16th century, then “nevertheless” and, in the Quijote (1615), “still, yet”.^[5][4]

Covarrubias in 1611 records del todo “entirely” and ser uno el todo en un negocio “to be the one who runs an affair”.^[11] Autoridades adds the noun el todo, a whole made of parts, much used in philosophy, and the emphatic use este pez todo es espinas “this fish is all bones”.^[12] The phrase y todo “too, even” (yo y todo) is found in Quevedo, Tirso and Calderón.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 950 – the Glosas Emilianenses and Silenses have the word.^[4][5]
• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid uses todo and tod.^[2][4]
• 1220–1250 – todavía “always” is recorded.^[5]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses it as adjective and adverb.^[3]
• 1490 – todopoderoso, a calque of Latin omnipotens, appears.^[5][4]
• 1611 – Covarrubias glosses it with Latin totus.^[11]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades adds the noun el todo.^[12]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology, from Latin totus.^[13]

Meanings

Adjective

1. all, every member of a set (with a plural noun): Vinieron todos los vecinos.^[6][1]
2. every, each: Nos vemos todos los lunes.^[6]
3. whole, entire (with a singular noun): Llovió todo el día.^[6][1]
4. All of a substance or quantity: Se gastó todo el dinero.^[6]
5. A real, quite a (todo un + noun): Es todo un artista.^[6]
6. Any, every (generic): Todo ciudadano tiene derechos.^[6]

Pronoun

1. Everything; in the plural, everyone: Lo sabe todo.^[1][14]

Noun

1. (el todo) The whole, a thing made of parts.^[12][10]

Adverb

1. Entirely, completely.^[3][15]

Word family

• todavía
• todopoderoso
• sobretodo
• todito

Related words

• total
• Latin tōtus
• Portuguese todo
• Catalan tot

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Menéndez Pidal, Ramón (1908–1911), Cantar de Mio Cid: texto, gramática y vocabulario, 3 vols., Madrid: Bailly-Baillière, p. s.v. todo
3. ^ a b c d Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. todo
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 528
5. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. todo
6. ^ a b c d e f g Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. todo
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. totus
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 Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 687
10. ^ a b c Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses
11. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1333
12. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 289
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 1031
14. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. todo
15. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos