Where does “total” come from?
Total comes from Middle English total, from Old French total, from Medieval Latin totalis meaning "of the whole," derived from Latin -alis and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European roots meaning "all" or "whole."
total (English): An amount obtained by the addition of smaller...
Definitions
- An amount obtained by the addition of smaller...
Ancestry of “total”, step by step
total traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Middle English total
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | total | — |
| 2 | Old French | total | — |
| 3 | Medieval Latin | totalis | total |
| 4 | Latin | tōtus | whole, all, entire, total, complete, every part |
| 5 | Latin | tot | so many |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | toti | so many |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | só | this; that |
via Latin tōtālis
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Latin | tōtālis | total, entire |