ditto

The story

1. Latin · derived fromdīcō“to say, to speak”
2. Italian · borrowed fromditto
3. English todayditto

First attested in 1625. From regional Italian ditto, variant of detto, past participle of dire (“to say”), from Latin dīcō (“to say, to speak”). Not related to English dittography. The specific meaning of making copies of paper comes from ditto machine, a genericization from the brand name of a spirit duplicator.

Words from the same roots