to-

to- [to͞o, too, tə]

〚ME < OE, akin to Ger zer-, L dis-: see DIS-〛 prefix

Obs. completely, entirely, severely: used with verbs as an intensive [“to-broken” means “broken to pieces”]

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Demonstrative pronoun. For the nominative singular see so-.

Derivatives include decoy, thus, and tandem.

1.

a. the²; natheless, from Old English thē, thȳ (instrumental case), by the;

b. decoy, from Middle Dutch de, the;

c. lest, from Old English the, a conjunction. a-c from Germanic *thē, from Indo-European instrumental form *tē.

2. though, from Middle English though, though, from a Scandinavian source akin to Old Norse thō, though, from Germanic *thauh, “for all that.”

3. these, this, those, from Old English thes, this, this, from Germanic *thasi-.

4. than, then, from Old English thanne, thænne, thenne, than, then, from Germanic *thana-.

5. thence, from Old English thanon, thence, from Germanic *thanana-.

6. there, from Old English thǣr, thēr, there, from Germanic *thēr.

7. thither, from Old English thæder, thider, thither, from Germanic *thathro.

8. they, from Old Norse their, they, from Germanic nominative plural *thai.

9. their, from Old Norse their(r)a, theirs, from Germanic genitive plural *thaira.

10. them, from Old Norse theim and Old English thǣm, them, from Germanic dative plural *thaimiz.

11. Extended neuter form *tod-. that, from Old English thæt, that, from Germanic *that.

12. thus, from Old English thus, thus, from Germanic *thus-.

13. Adverbial (originally accusative) form *tam. tandem, tantamount, from Latin tandem, at last, so much, and tantus, so much.

14. Suffixed reduced form *t-āli-. tales, from Latin tālis, such.

15. tauto-, from Greek to, the.

 

[Pokorny 1. to- 1086.]

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