tot

Forms

tot (indeclinable)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *toti (“so many”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *to-ti, built on the demonstrative stem *to- (“that”).^[2][1][3] Cognate with Sanskrit तति (táti, “so many”) and Ancient Greek τόσος (tósos, “so big, so much”), from ⟨*toti-o-⟩.^[2][1] It is the correlative of quot “how many”.^[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on:^[2][3] quoi sīc tot amantī mī obviam ēveniant morae, “that so many delays should meet me, a lover”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Tot is an indeclinable adjective: “that many, so many”, “such and such a number” in examples, and with quot “as many … as”.^[4][5] It usually stresses a large number, “so many”, but occasionally a small one, “so few”.^[4] From it come totidem “just as many” and totiēns “so often”.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – First found in Plautus, with totidem and totiēns.^[2][3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero: tot cīvīs atrōcissimē sustulit, “he most cruelly killed so many citizens”.^[4][3]

Meanings

Determiner

1. That many, so many;^[4][6] tot … quot, as many … as.^[4][5]
2. So large a number of.^[4]
3. So few.^[4]

Word family

• totidem
• totiēns
• totiugis
• totiugus

Related words

• quot
• tam
• tantus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
6. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press