To a T
So “to a T,” meaning “just right,” is actually a shortened form of “to a tittle,” meaning that something is correct down to the smallest point. And when we say “jot and tittle,” also meaning “to the smallest detail,” we are, yes, being a bit redundant, since “jot” and “tittle” mean the same thing. But while our refrigerator magnets may declare “Don’t sweat the small stuff,” the truth is that, as Goldilocks discovered, perfection consists of getting the jots, tittles and iotas just right.
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OwenKL:
May 4th, 2011 at 3:59 pm
A bit of folk etymology, I suppose, but I had thought that in “jot & tittle” that one was specifically the dot on the lowercase i, and the other specifically the crossbar on the t. Possibly a variation “dot and tilde”.
Herbert:
May 9th, 2012 at 8:54 am
I see a year has passed since, but for future reference for anybody, New Testament Matthew 5 verses 17 to 18, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled, E&OE. If anyone can find any earlier reference, I shall keep looking.
Anthony Jones:
April 6th, 2013 at 9:52 pm
. . . and that would date from the time of King James, no doubt!
Jim Jordan:
March 10th, 2014 at 8:37 am
The origins do go farther back. The “jot” is derived, not from the Greek “Iota”, but the Hebrew letter “Yud”, which is similar in look to an apostrophe, and forms the sound that is similar to a sharp “e” (the Mediterranean “I”), or a “y”. The “Yud” is found in most words that have some reference to God in the Torah and is generally pronounced “Yah”, such as “Yahweh” (which is spelled “Yud Heh Vav Heh”). Of course, we have no Hebrew text of Matthew, which is why we have the “iota” from the Greek text. As to what might have been said regarding the “tittle” in Hebrew is unclear. The reference appears to refer to diacritical marks, but they were not actually used in the writing of the Torah.
daVid chrisTman:
May 25th, 2020 at 9:28 am
It is possible that the referral “To a T” might mean Tau, the final letter of the Hebrew alphabet?
Tom Still:
August 24th, 2020 at 5:57 am
T squares and squares were used by masons since the archaic period.
Master Masons in medieval Europe would etch their full size plans on flag stones, using these tools, as a template for Apprentice Masons to measure their work against
Surely it stands to reason that to attest the accuracy of a template it would be acclaimed as being ‘to a T’.
I can see this as being widely and frequently used down the ages. However, due to its confinement within a specialist industry, as it leaked into wider society barely anyone would know first-hand of its true origins and those that did thought nothing of it as it was so commonplace to them.
I see no other plausible explanation.
Jennifer Hargreaves:
October 30th, 2020 at 10:49 am
A tittle is a small stroke found at the base of such letters as ayin and tav in the Hebrew alphabet. A jot is a transliteration of the tenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet, yod, which is the smallest letter and looks like a flying comma.
Eddie OConnor:
January 9th, 2021 at 9:31 am
I don’t have a time machine to investigate more in-depth. The Word Detective and all of the commentators are equally correct. I want to thank each for their coverage “ to the T”.