Re: This day
| From: | <morphemeaddict@...> |
|---|
| Date: | Saturday, March 24, 2007, 0:03 |
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In a message dated 3/23/2007 7:24:41 AM Central Daylight Time,
caeruleancentaur@YAHOO.COM writes:
> While "to" may currently have a meaning of "to, at," at times, the
> AHD says this of its origin (which is what I meant when I said "is
> derived from):
>
> [Middle English 'to,' Old English 'to, te." See 'de' in Appendix.]
>
> 'De' in the appendix is called a demonstrative stem.
>
> I believe that the "to" (there should be a macron) in "todæge" is
> the dative of "this." It is not a preposition. Thus "todæge"
> means 'on THIS (dat.) DAY (dat.), not ON the DAY.
>
> Charlie
>
Okay, if you go back far enough (PIE), it seems that you're right: the
preposition "to" [according to AHD] is ultimately derived from a demonstrative root
"de-".
stevo </HTML>