Etymology and origin of the Latin word -to
-to1 frequentative verbs
- Confidence
- Disputed
- Formation
- Derivation
- First attested
- c. 250–184 BC Plautus
- Ultimate origin
- Latin -tus#2
Forms
-tō (present infinitive -tāre, perfect active -tāvī, supine -tātum); first conjugation[1]
Etymology
The suffix for frequentative verbs is usually taken as formed from Latin -tus2 + -ō3, that is, denominatives in -ō from the past participle.[1][2][3] Sihler gives dictō from dictus and versō from the participle of vertō, and notes that pultō attests an unrecorded original participle ⟨*poltos⟩.[3]
Weiss doubts this, since it is hard to see how a denominative of a participle could acquire a repetitive meaning, and thinks the link with the participle may be a confluence of forms of different origin.[4] On this view the type may have started from presents in ⟨-sā-⟩, denominatives of nominals derived from desiderative stems, as in rīxor beside rīxa; after a root-final dental, as in dispēnsō, such a form could be analysed as derived from the participle, and forms in -tā- were then made on that basis.[4]
Earliest recorded meaning
Plautus already has saltō “dance”, in the Stichus, and gestō “carry about”, in the Epidicus.[2]
Semantic evolution
These verbs denote repeated or energetic action.[3][1] Many lost that force, so that cantō has the same meaning as canō and displaced it in the vernacular, whence Italian cantare and French chanter; new forms in -itō such as cantitō were then made from them.[3] In some cases the verb entirely replaced its base, as gustō did.[4]
Timeline
Meanings
Suffix
- Forms frequentative or intensive verbs of the first conjugation from past participles, for repeated or vigorous action: iactō, saltō, dormītō; as -sō when the participle is in -sus: dēfēnsō.[2][1][3]
Word family
-to2 future imperative
- Confidence
- Established
- Formation
- Inherited
- Inherited from
- Proto-Indo-European *-tōd
- Ultimate origin
- Proto-Indo-European *-tōd
Forms
-tō (plural -tōte)[1]
Etymology
The imperative ending is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *-tōd, which formed the so-called future imperative.[6] Sihler writes it *-tōt.[3] Early Latin has ⟨-tōd⟩.[3][4]
Cognate with Oscan -tud, Umbrian -tu and Sanskrit -तात् (-tāt).[3] A commonly held theory takes it as the ablative singular of the pronoun *to-, “after that”, added to the imperative, but Sihler objects that the ablative of that pronoun was *tosmōt.[3]
Earliest recorded meaning
An archaic Latin text has ne med malos tatod, “may no wicked man steal me”, with the third-person singular imperative tatod.[6] Cato's treatise on agriculture has effodito, “dig up”, a form of effodiō.[2]
Semantic evolution
In Latin it serves as second and third person singular of the future imperative.[3][1] Fortson notes that this ending was used in commands for the more distant future or meant to remain in force, as in laws.[6] Sihler notes that it commonly marks one event following another, “and then”.[3] A form with middle sense, -minō, was made on its analogy.[4]
Timeline
Meanings
Suffix
Word family
- -minō
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Sihler, Andrew L. (1995), New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin, New York: OUP
- ^ a b c d e Weiss, Michael (2020), Outline of the Historical and Comparative Grammar of Latin, 2nd ed., Ann Arbor: Beech Stave
- ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
- ^ a b c Fortson, Benjamin W., IV (2010), Indo-European Language and Culture: An Introduction, 2nd ed., Malden, MA / Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell
Related etymologies
Cite this entry
“-to.” Etymologically, 6 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/la/-to. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.
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