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Anonymous Posted 16 years ago
Vocabulary
The origin of the to+time of day words
Hi,
I want to know how the words "tomorrow", "today" and "tonight" came to be. Why are these the only times you can use "to" as a prefix for this specific meaning. Why is there no "tomorning" or "toafternoon", or "toevening"? Was there a different concept of time when the former words were created?
Thanks
I want to know how the words "tomorrow", "today" and "tonight" came to be. Why are these the only times you can use "to" as a prefix for this specific meaning. Why is there no "tomorning" or "toafternoon", or "toevening"? Was there a different concept of time when the former words were created?
Thanks
Top answer
Hi, You might like to have a look at the etymology of these words, eg here. com / Why one word developed in a way that another did not is a difficult question that I can't answer properly. Your examples may be influenced to the fact that people originally related more to large 'chunks of time', like today, tomorrow.
- Hi, You might like to have a look at the etymology of these words, eg here.
- com / Why one word developed in a way that another did not is a difficult question that I can't answer properly.
- Your examples may be influenced to the fact that people originally related more to large 'chunks of time', like today, tomorrow.
- Compare that to our modern obsession with small chunks of time like minutes and even seconds.
- I believe, for example, that early clocks only had an hour hand.
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1 Answers
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Hi,
You might like to have a look at the etymology of these words, eg here.
http://www.etymonline.com/
Why one word developed in a way that another did not is a difficult question that
You might like to have a look at the etymology of these words, eg here.
http://www.etymonline.com/
Why one word developed in a way that another did not is a difficult question that
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