isto

Forms

istō (adverb)^[1][2] Beside it stand istōc and istūc; the TLL notes that Plautus uses istō only in everyday or familiar speech.^[3]

Etymology

It is a derivative of iste (“that of yours”), formed like eō² (“thither”) and quō (“whither”).^[1][3][4] De Vaan traces iste to Proto-Italic *es-to-, whose second element is the pronoun Proto-Indo-European *so-, *to-.^[5] Cognate with Umbrian estu (“this”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus,^[5][4] whose Miles Gloriosus has a woman promise to go in there, where she is told: isto me intro ituram quo iubes.^[1][2]

Semantic evolution

It means to the place where the person addressed is, thither, to where you are:^[1][2] Cicero writes in his letters of coming to his correspondent, and of his reasons for hurrying there.^[2] With verbs of adding or mixing it means into that category or sum that you speak of, as when Cicero tells his brother there is no reason to add Trebatius to that number.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of going in there.^[1][5][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero, in letters, of coming to where his correspondent is.^[2][4]

Meanings

Adverb

1. To the place where you are, thither, there.^[1][2]
2. Into that category or sum (that you speak of).^[1]

Related words

• iste
• istūc
• istīc²
• istinc

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill