English
tofall
Tofall comes from Middle English tofall ‘a small structure, e.g. a shed, that is…’, and goes back to fall.
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fall1
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500tofall2as tofal‘a small structure, e.g. a shed, that is annexed to the wall of a larger one’
- Englishearliest quotation 1936tofall2
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Middle English tofall
- 2 Wiktionary, English tofall
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1936, A. E. Housman: “at to-fall of the day”.
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fallWiktionary, Middle English tofall
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500tofallWiktionary, English tofallas tofal‘a small structure, e.g. a shed, that is annexed to the wall of a larger one’
- Englishearliest quotation 1936tofallWiktionary, English tofall. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1936, A. E. Housman: “at to-fall of the day”
Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ ‘two’
Proto-Indo-European *dwís ‘two-ways, in twain’
Proto-Germanic *twiz- ‘apart, in two’
Proto-West Germanic *tō-
English to-
Proto-Indo-European *h₃elh₁- ‘to collapse’
Proto-Germanic *fallaną ‘to fall’
Proto-West Germanic *fallan ‘to fall’
Old English feallan ‘to fall’
Middle English fallen ‘to fall’
English fall
Every English word from Middle English fall
Today it means
noun Decline; settling; end; close.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “tofall”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Middle English tofall. 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 / Middle English fall / tofall