до

Forms

до (do)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old East Slavic до (do), from Proto-Slavic *do (“to, until”).^[2][3][1][4] Every Slavic language has it: Old Church Slavonic до (do) (for Ancient Greek μέχρι (mékhri) and ἕως (héōs)), Ukrainian до (do), Bulgarian до (do), Serbo-Croatian до (do), Czech do and Polish do.^[2][5] Old Russian also had доже (dože) and дожь (dožĭ) “until”.^[2]

It goes back to Proto-Indo-European *do, a postposition of pronominal origin.^[3][4] Its cognates are the enclitic Ancient Greek -δε (-de) in οἶκόνδε (oîkónde, “homeward”), Avestan vaēsman-da (“homeward”) and Old High German za (“to”); with another vowel grade they are Proto-Germanic *tō, zuo and Old English tō, the source of to.^[2][3][5] Lithuanian da- and Latvian da are also compared, but ESRJa notes that these may have been borrowed from Slavic.^[5] Derksen adds Ancient Greek ἔνδον (éndon, “within”) and archaic Latin endo (“in”).^[4]

Tsyganenko reports a view that the preposition first meant “homeward” and is connected with дом; others take ⟨*do-⟩ as the pronominal root of да.^[6] Pogodin's derivation of the preposition from the longer Old Russian form was rejected by Preobrazhensky and Berneker as improbable.^[5] The verbal prefix до- comes from the preposition.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Izbornik of 1076 uses it in space and in time: не тъшти ся бързо иштисти до другыя главизны “do not hurry to get to the next chapter”, and отъ Адама праоця нашего до сего нашего вѣка “from Adam our forefather to this age of ours”.^[7] Chernykh dates it in Old Russian from the 11th century.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Sreznevsky's material already shows the main uses: the limit of a movement, of a time and of a quantity, an approximate number, and the person an action reaches;^[9] Old Russian до could also stand for у “at” and в “in”.^[9] The Lay of Igor's Campaign has Vseslav leaping like a wolf до Немиги “as far as the Nemiga”, and съ вечера до свѣта “from evening till dawn”.^[10][7] In the 16th and 17th centuries Moscow documents used до тѣхъ мѣстъ “until”, and до ... за to count the time or distance before a point: за 4 часы до свету “four hours before dawn”.^[7]

The modern uses “before” (до войны) and “about, up to” (до 1000 человек) continue these, and so does у меня до тебя дело “I have a matter for you”.^[11]

Timeline

• 1076 – до другыя главизны “to the next chapter” in the Izbornik of 1076.^[7]
• end of the 12th century – до Немиги “as far as the Nemiga” in the Lay of Igor's Campaign.^[10][7]
• 1599 – до коихъ мѣстъ “until” in an embassy book.^[7]
• 1683 – отъ берегу до берегу “from bank to bank”.^[7]

Meanings

Preposition

1. (with the genitive) to, as far as: marks the distance or time between two points, as in от Москвы до Твери.^[11]
2. until, up to: marks the limit of a movement or time, as in дойти до леса, подождать до утра.^[11][12]
3. To the point of: the degree an action reaches, as in устать до изнеможения.^[11]
4. before: earlier than, as in до обеда.^[11][1]
5. About, up to (of a number): до ста человек.^[11]
6. Marks the person or thing an action is aimed at or concerns, as in дотронуться до плеча, что до меня “as for me”.^[11][1]

Word family

• до-

Related words

• Old East Slavic до (do)

Usage notes

До, the musical note C, is an indeclinable neuter noun of different origin, from Italian do.^[13] Shaposhnikov notes that in the second half of the 18th century musicians still named the note ут (recorded in 1776), after the Latin hymn Ut queant laxis, and that до is in Russian dictionaries from 1841.^[14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka, transl. and suppl. by O. N. Trubačev, 4 vols., Moskva: Progress, p. 1, 519
3. ^ a b c Shaposhnikov, A. K. (2010), Ètimologičeskij slovar' sovremennogo russkogo jazyka [Этимологический словарь современного русского языка], 2 vols., Moskva: Flinta / Nauka, p. 1, 230
4. ^ a b c Derksen, Rick (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 4, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 109
5. ^ a b c d Shansky, N. M.; Zhuravlev, A. F. (eds.) (1963–2007), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka [Этимологический словарь русского языка], vols. 1–10 (A–M), Moskva: Izdatel'stvo Moskovskogo universiteta, p. 5, s.v. до
6. ^ a b Tsyganenko, G. P. (1989), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka [Этимологический словарь русского языка], 2nd ed., Kiev: Radjans'ka škola, p. s.v. до
7. ^ a b c d e f g Barkhudarov, S. G. et al. (eds.) (1975–), Slovar' russkogo jazyka XI–XVII vv. [Словарь русского языка XI–XVII вв.], vols. 1–31, Moskva: Nauka / Azbukovnik / Lexrus, p. 4, 252
8. ^ Chernykh, P. Ya. (1993), Istoriko-ètimologičeskij slovar' sovremennogo russkogo jazyka [Историко-этимологический словарь современного русского языка], 2 vols., Moskva: Russkij jazyk, p. 1, s.v. до
9. ^ a b Sreznevsky, I. I. (1893–1912), Materialy dlja slovarja drevne-russkago jazyka po pis'mennym pamjatnikam [Материалы для словаря древнерусского языка по письменным памятникам], 3 vols., Sankt-Peterburg: Imperatorskaja Akademija nauk, p. 1, s.v. до
10. ^ a b Vinogradova, V. L. (1965–1984), Slovar'-spravočnik «Slova o polku Igoreve» [Словарь-справочник «Слова о полку Игореве»], 6 vols., Moskva / Leningrad: Nauka, p. s.v. до
11. ^ a b c d e f g Ozhegov, S. I.; Shvedova, N. Yu. (1997), Tolkovyj slovar' russkogo jazyka [Толковый словарь русского языка], 4th ed., Moskva: Azbukovnik, p. s.v. до
12. ^ Evgen'eva, A. P. (ed.) (1981–1984), Slovar' russkogo jazyka v četyrex tomax [Словарь русского языка в 4 тт.] (MAS), 2nd ed., Moskva: Russkij jazyk, p. s.v. до
13. ^ Krysin, L. P. (2008), Tolkovyj slovar' inojazyčnyx slov [Толковый словарь иноязычных слов], Moskva: Èksmo, p. s.v. до
14. ^ Shaposhnikov, A. K. (2010), Ètimologičeskij slovar' sovremennogo russkogo jazyka [Этимологический словарь современного русского языка], 2 vols., Moskva: Flinta / Nauka, p. 1, 231