Etymograph

English

today

Today comes from Middle English today, from Old English tōdæġ, tō dæġe ‘today’, literally ‘on [this] day’.

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150tō dæġe‘on [the/this] day’
  2. Old English, derivedc. 450–1150tōdæġ‘today’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500today‘on the current day’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1899same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150tō dæġe‘on [the/this] day’
  2. Old English, derivedc. 450–1150tōdæġ‘today’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500today‘on the current day’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1899same form

Earliest quotation: 1899, Hughes Mearns: “Yesterday, upon the stair / I met a man…”

Formed from to + day

Proto-Indo-European *de ‘to’

…

Proto-Germanic *tō

Proto-West Germanic *tō

Old English tō ‘to’

Middle English to

English to

Proto-Germanic *dagaz

Proto-West Germanic *dag

Old English dæġ ‘day’

Middle English day ‘a day’

English day

Every English word from Old English tō dæġe

Today it means

adv On the current day or date.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Old English tō dæġe / today

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