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Joel & Jan's avatar

An Italian friend says that although “to” is obviously sounding like a truncation of togli this is, in fact, from tenere/tieni.

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Parola del Giorno (#PdG)'s avatar

According to several dictionaries, the etymology of the expression is from the Latin 'tollere' and Italian 'togliere,' but it can mean "tieni" in some contexts.

Here's a good explanation: https://unaparolaalgiorno.it/significato/to

According to lo Zingarelli, it is the " troncamento di togli ‘prendi’, sec. XIII ."

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Joel & Jan's avatar

I believe you... just giving you the 'view from the ground' :-) Thanks as always for taking the time to do PdG for all of us!

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Croce Monte Amore's avatar

Love to hear it!!

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