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-ito

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word -ito

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC Plautus
Ultimate origin
Latin -to#1

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɪ.toː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [i.to][1]

Forms

-itō (present infinitive -itāre, perfect active -itāvī, supine -itātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

The suffix is an enlargement from Latin -tō,[2][1] but the appearance of -i- when it is added to first-conjugation verbs has not been explained.[1] Sihler agrees that the exact source is unknown: rogitō has it where ⟨*rogātō⟩ would be expected, and first-conjugation verbs like domitō, from a participle domitus, are too few to account for it.[3] Weiss suggests that these forms may derive from t-stem agent nouns such as eques “horseman”, since derivatives of agent nouns mean to act as the noun prototypically acts, which led to the repetitive meaning.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus already has factitō “do habitually” in the Epidicus.[2]

Semantic evolution

It came to form verbs directly from the present stem, as agitō and haesitō,[3] besides those from participles, such as ductitō and factitō.[2] Double frequentatives such as cantitō and dictitō were made from verbs in -tō1 that had lost their force.[3] Weiss separates these frequentatives, used of events repeated on many occasions, from the repetitives in -tō.[4] It occasionally formed denominatives such as nōbilitō.[2][1]

Timeline

Meanings

Suffix

  1. Forms frequentative verbs of the first conjugation with iterative force, from verbal bases: agitō, clāmitō, rogitō.[2][1]
  2. From past participles: ductitō, factitō.[2][4]
  3. Occasionally from nouns or adjectives: nōbilitō.[2][1]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Sihler, Andrew L. (1995), New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin, New York: OUP
  4. ^ a b c Weiss, Michael (2020), Outline of the Historical and Comparative Grammar of Latin, 2nd ed., Ann Arbor: Beech Stave
  5. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“-ito.” Etymologically, 6 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/la/-ito. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·