Teetotum


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  • Name derived from earlier T totum (from the letter tee that appeared on one side of the toy), from totum, teetotum, from Latin totum, neuter sing. This object is a game piece used to simulate several common games & generate random numbers, letters, cards, dates, percentages & more.
  • The word teetotum, which dates back to the 18th century, denotes a small four-sided disk or die having an initial letter inscribed on each of its sides, and a spindle passing down through it by which it could be twirled or spun with the fingers like a small top, the letter which lay uppermost, when it fell, deciding the fortune of the player.
  • . A teetotum (or T-totum) is a form of gambling spinning top. A teetotum is a top spun with the fingers, rather than a whip or cord. A toy top spun with the fingers, formerly used in a game of chance. Form of top having usually 4, 6, 8, or 12 sides marked with distinctive symbols.
  • A teetotum (or T-totum) is a form of gambling spinning top. It has a polygonal body marked with letters or numbers, which indicate the result of each spin.

tee·to·tum

Offering an outdoor pool, a restaurant and a furnished terrace, Teetotum hotel is located in Tulum. Free parking and free WiFi access in public areas are available. Each room here will provide you with air conditioning, a balcony and a refrigerator. Featuring a shower, private bathroom also comes with free toiletries.

(tē-tō′təm)n.
A top, usually having four lettered sides, that is used to play various games of chance.
[From earlier T totum (from the letter tee that appeared on one side of the toy), from totum, teetotum, from Latin tōtum, neuter sing. of tōtus, all; see teutā- in Indo-European roots.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

teetotum

Tulum (tiːˈtəʊtəm) n
1. (Games, other than specified) a spinning top bearing letters of the alphabet on its four sides
2. (Games, other than specified) such a top used as a die in gambling games
[C18: from T totum, from T initial inscribed on one of the faces + totum the name of the toy, from Latin tōtum the whole]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

tee•to•tum

(tiˈtoʊ təm)
n.
a small top spun with the fingers, esp. one with four sides inscribed with letters.
[1710–20; earlier T totum, alter. of totum name of toy (< Latin tōtum, neuter of tōtus all) by prefixing its initial letter, which appeared on one side of the toy]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
Teetotum toy
Noun1.teetotum - a conical child's plaything tapering to a steel point on which it can be made to spin; 'he got a bright red top and string for his birthday'
spinning top, whirligig, top
humming top - a top that makes a humming noise as it spins
peg top - a pear-shaped top made of wood with a metal center pin
plaything, toy - an artifact designed to be played with
whip top, whipping top - a top that is spun by whipping
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
Teetotum put and take

Teetotum Definition

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L’Enfant au toton (1738), by Jean-Siméon Chardin (1699-1779)

The word teetotum, which dates back to the 18th century, denotes a small four-sided disk or die having an initial letter inscribed on each of its sides, and a spindle passing down through it by which it could be twirled or spun with the fingers like a smalltop, the letter which lay uppermost, when it fell, deciding the fortune of the player.

The word was formed by prefixing to Latin totum, meaning the whole (stake), its initial T, which stood for it on one of the four sides of the toy, itself in earlier use called simply a totum and apparently first evoked, figuratively, by the Scottish poet and courtier William Dunbar (1460?-1530?) in To the King (Exces of thocht dois me mischeif):

He playis with totum and I with nychell [= with nothing].

The letters were originally the initials of the following Latin words: A for aufer, take away, D for depone, put down, N for nihil, nothing, and T for totum.

Subsequently they were the initials of English words, as the English engraver, artist, antiquary and writer Joseph Strutt (1749-1802) explained in The Sports and Pastimes of the People of England (1801):

The usage of the tee-totum may be considered as a kind of petty gambling, it being marked with a certain number of letters: and part of the stake is taken up, or an additional part put down, according as those letters lie uppermost. […] When I was a boy the tee-totum had only four sides, each of them marked with a letter; a T for take all; an H for half, that is of the stake; an N for nothing; and a P for put down, that is, a stake equal to that you put down at first. Toys of this kind are now made with many sides and letters.

IN FRENCH

The word for teetotum is toton, from the pronunciation of Latin totum, which was the earlier form, first attested in A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues (1611), by Randle Cotgrave:

Totum. A kind of game with a whirlebone.

The form recorded in the first edition (1694) of the Ditionnaire de l’Académie française was totum, but it was specified that it was pronounced toton. Since the fourth edition (1762) of this dictionary, the recorded form has been toton.

Teetotum History

According to the Dictionnaire de la langue française (1872), by the French lexicographer Émile Littré (1801-81), in the French toton, the letters are A for Latin accipe, take, D for Latin da, give, R for French rien, nothing, and T for Latin totum.