Etymograph

English

til

Til may come from Old Norse til ‘to, towards’, from Proto-Germanic *tilą ‘goal’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *deh₂y- ‘to divide, part’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*deh₂y-1‘to divide, part’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*tilą2‘goal’uncertain
  3. Old Norsec. 800–1350til3‘to, towards’uncertain
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150til4‘to, until’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500til4‘until, till’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 2004til4

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *tilą
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Old Norse til
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Old English til, which cites OED
  4. 4 Wiktionary, English til
  5. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2004, Nov, Harper: “I just don't know how to just come out…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*deh₂y-Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *tilą‘to divide, part’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*tiląWiktionary, Old Norse til‘goal’uncertain
  3. Old Norsec. 800–1350tilWiktionary, Old English til, which cites OED‘to, towards’uncertain
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150tilWiktionary, English til‘to, until’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500tilWiktionary, English til‘until, till’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 2004tilWiktionary, English til. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2004, Nov, Harper: “I just don't know how to just come out…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *deh₂y- ‘to divide, part’

time, demon, tease, tide, daemon, tass, daimon, 22 more

through Proto-Germanic *tilą ‘goal’

tiller, tilling

through Middle English til ‘until, till’

till

Another origin of til

  1. Sanskritc. 1500–500 BCEतिल‘Sesamum indicum, sesame seed’
  2. Hindic. 1500–presentतिलtil‘sesame’
  3. Englishtodaytil

Today it means

conj until, till

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “til”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Germanic *tilą, Old Norse til, Old English til. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *deh₂y- / til

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