The story
- Proto-Germanic · derived from*twiz-“apart”
- Old English · inherited fromtōteran“to tear apart, tear asunder”
- Middle English · inherited fromtoteren
- English todaytotear
From Middle English toteren, from Old English tōteran (“to tear apart, tear asunder”), from Proto-Germanic *twiz- (“apart”), *teraną (“to tear, tear away”), equivalent to to- + tear.
Words from the same roots
Proto-Germanic*twiz- all →
to-
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.