tittle en · NOUN · etymology 1
Pronunciation
- /ˈtɪt.əl/ (UK, US)
- (Australia) audio
Etymology
From Middle English tytle, titel, titele, from Anglo-Norman titil, titule and Medieval Latin titulus (“small stroke, diacritical mark, accent”), from Latin titulus (“title”). Doublet of tilde, titer/titre, title, titlo, and titulus.
Meanings
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Any small dot, stroke, or diacritical mark, especially if part of a letter, or of a letter-like abbreviation; in particular, the dots over the Latin letters i and j.
The words "jot" and "tittle" in this passage refer to diacritic marks, that is, dashes, dots, or commas added to a letter to accentuate the pronunciation.
1965, P. A. Marijnen, The Encyclopedia of the Bible:The foure pricks or tittles are these. The first is a full prick or period. The second is a comma or crooked tittle.
1590, Bales, The Arte of Brachygraphie (quoted in Daid King's 2001 'The Ciphers of the Monks')(the page calls both "a superscript sign (hooklike)" and also a diacritical abbreviation of "er" (er) "tittles")
1987, Andrea van Arkel-De Leeuw van Weenen, Möðruvallabók, AM 132 Fol: Index and concordance, page xiiA tittle is more or less the same thing (the dot over an i, for instance), except that it can be traced back to Medieval Latin for a little mark over or under a letter, such as an accent ague or a cedilla. I don't know whether an umlaut is one or two tittles. Maybe it's a jot and a tittle side by side.
2008, Roy Blount, Alphabet juice: the energies, gists, and spirits of letters:
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(broadly) A small, insignificant amount (of something); a modicum or speck.
I am living fast to see the time when a book that misses its tide shall be neglected, as the moon by day, or like mackerel a week after the season. No man has more nicely observed our climate than the bookseller who bought the copy of this work; he knows to a tittle what subjects will best go off in a dry year, and which it is proper to expose foremost when the weather-glass is fallen to much rain.
1704, Jonathan Swift, A Tale of a Tub:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| tittles | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Deriveds
jot and tittle · tittle-tattling · to a tittle · tittle-tattler
Relateds
tilde · iota · titer · titre · title · titlo · titulus
Translations (35)
pt pingo (in particular: dot on ''i'' and ''j'') · xag 𐔺𐕞𐕡 (a small amount) · hu darabka (a small amount) · hy հատիկ (a small amount) · gd bìdeag (a small amount) · bg точка (in particular: dot on ''i'' and ''j'') · got 𐍅𐍂𐌹𐍄𐍃 (in particular: dot on ''i'' and ''j'') · it punto (a small amount) · ru то́чка (in particular: dot on ''i'' and ''j'') · de Punkt (in particular: dot on ''i'' and ''j'') · hy փշուր (a small amount) · es punto (in particular: dot on ''i'' and ''j'') · ota آوج (a small amount) · ru ка́пелька (a small amount) · fi piste (in particular: dot on ''i'' and ''j'') · da tøddel (in particular: dot on ''i'' and ''j'') · cs troška (a small amount) · io iota (a small amount) · sk bodka na i (in particular: dot on ''i'' and ''j'') · bg йота (a small amount) · fi hiukkanen (a small amount) · hu pont (in particular: dot on ''i'' and ''j'') · gd punc (in particular: dot on ''i'' and ''j'') · nl spatje (a small amount) · hu szemernyi (a small amount) · bg частица (a small amount) · nl tittel (in particular: dot on ''i'' and ''j'') · ota پارچه (a small amount) · sk troška (a small amount) · hu parány (a small amount) · it puntino (in particular: dot on ''i'' and ''j'') · fr point (in particular: dot on ''i'' and ''j'') · cs tečka (in particular: dot on ''i'' and ''j'') · hu hajszálnyi (a small amount) · ru чу́точка (a small amount)