Etymology

till

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Today it means: Until; to, up to; as late as (a given time). Full definition →

Middle English til ← Old English til ← Old Norse til
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till · preposition, conjunction1

  1. Proto-Germanic · derived from*tilą“planned point in time”
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*til“to, toward”
  3. Old Norse · derived fromtil“to, till”
  4. Old English · inherited fromtil
  5. Middle English · inherited fromtil
  6. English todaytill

From Middle English til, from Northern Old English til, from or akin to Old Norse til (“to, till”); both from Proto-Germanic *til (“to, toward”), from Proto-Germanic *tilą (“planned point in time”). Not a contraction of until; rather, until comes from till with the prefix un- (“against; toward; up to”) also found in unto. Cognate with Old Frisian til (“to, till”), Danish til (“to”), Swedish till (“to, till”), Icelandic til (“to, till”). Also related to Old English til (“good”), German Ziel (“goal”), Gothic 𐍄𐌹𐌻 (til, “something fitting or suitable”).

till · noun2

  1. Old Norse · derived fromþilja“plank”
  2. Old French · derived fromtille“compartment, shelter on a ship”
  3. Anglo-Norman · derived fromtylle“compartment”
  4. Old English · derived from*tyllan“to draw, attract”
  5. Middle English · derived fromtillen“to draw”
  6. Middle English · inherited fromtylle“till”
  7. English todaytill

From Middle English tylle (“till”), possibly from Middle English tillen (“to draw”) from Old English *tyllan (“to draw, attract”) (as in betyllan (“to lure, decoy”) and fortyllan (“to draw away”); related to *tollian > Middle English tollen). Cognate with Albanian ndjell (“to lure, attract”). Alternatively, Middle English tylle is from Anglo-Norman tylle (“compartment”), from Old French tille (“compartment, shelter on a ship”), from Old Norse þilja (“plank”).

till · verb3

  1. Old English · inherited fromtilian
  2. Middle English · inherited fromtilyen
  3. English todaytill

From Middle English tilyen, from Old English tilian.

till · noun4

Unknown, but possibly via etymology 3 (the verb) because alluvial deposit is used as a fertilizer.

till · noun5

  1. Middle English · inherited fromtylle
  2. English todaytill

From Middle English tylle; shortened from lentile (English lentil).

Till · proper noun6

* As an English surname, reduced from a pet form of Matilda. * As a north German surname, spelling variant of Thiel.

Words from the same roots

Middle Englishtil all →

til

Old Englishtil all →

til

Proto-Germanic*til all →

til

Proto-Germanic*tilą all →

til

Old English*tyllan all →

toll

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.