Etymologically
Log in

tot

This is an old revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 18 October 2026 at 18:58. It may differ significantly from the current version. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Current version Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈtɔt][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈtɔt][1]

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

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