Etymograph

English

tog

Tog comes from Latin toga ‘cloak, mantle’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtoga‘cloak, mantle’
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400togue
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500tog
  4. Englishearliest quotation c. 1864same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history not traced here.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtoga‘cloak, mantle’
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400togue
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500tog
  4. Englishearliest quotation c. 1864same form

Earliest quotation: c. 1864, Alfred Peck Stevens, The Chickaleary Cove: “I have a rorty gal, also a knowing pal,…”

The story

Shortened from earlier togemans, togeman (‘cloak, loose coat’), from Middle English tog, toge, togue, from Old French togue, from Latin toga (‘cloak, mantle’) (compare the doublets toga and toge). Togeman(s) was an old thieves' and vegabonds' cant for "cloak; coat". By the 1700s the noun tog was used as a shortened form, then with the meaning "coat"; before 1800 the word (in this sense usually in the plural; see togs) started to mean "clothing".

Linked words

through Latin toga ‘cloak, mantle’

toga, 3 more

Today it means

noun A cloak.

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

Etymograph / Latin toga / tog

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