ditto

Where does the word "ditto" come from? It comes from Latin dicere, passing through Italian and Tuscan Italian before entering English (1620s-1670s).

Ditto’s story begins in Latin: dicere meant “to speak, say.” The verb of speaking, whose past participle was dictus. By medieval, the word had taken hold in Italian as detto. The past participle of dire, 'said'. From there it passed into Tuscan Italian as ditto by 1600s. Used by merchants to mean '(in) the said month', avoiding repetition in dated ledgers. It reached English by 1620s-1670s as ditto. Entered for the same bookkeeping shorthand, then generalized to mean 'the same as stated'. Today, ditto means used to avoid repeating a word, meaning 'the same as stated'.

1. Stage 1 · Latin · ancient dicere "to speak, say", the verb of speaking, whose past participle was dictus.
2. Stage 2 · Italian · medieval detto "said", the past participle of dire, 'said'.
3. Stage 3 · Tuscan Italian · 1600s ditto "the aforesaid (month or date)", used by merchants to mean '(in) the said month', avoiding repetition in dated ledgers.
4. Stage 4 · English · 1620s-1670s ditto "the same as previously stated", entered for the same bookkeeping shorthand, then generalized to mean 'the same as stated'.