-tō
Etymology 1
Likely originally denominatives in -ō formed from the past participle.
Suffix
-tō (present infinitive -tāre, perfect active -tāvī, supine -tātum); first conjugation
- Forms frequentative verbs from existing verbs. In Latin, this means repeated or intense action.[1] For examples, see here.
Usage notes
The suffix uses the past participle/supine stem as the base, see the usage notes at -tus for more. It is not used for first conjugation verbs, the variant -itō appears there instead.
1At least one use of the archaic "sigmatic future" and "sigmatic aorist" tenses is attested, which are used by Old Latin writers; most notably Plautus and Terence. The sigmatic future is generally ascribed a future or future perfect meaning, while the sigmatic aorist expresses a possible desire ("might want to"). It is also attested as having a rare sigmatic future passive indicative form ("will have been"), which is not attested in the plural for any verb.
2The present passive infinitive in -ier is a rare poetic form which is attested.
Derived terms
Etymology 2
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Suffix
-tō