A contraction of ditto, which is the Italian détto (said), Latin dictus.
How do you do? i.e. How do you fare? It should be, How do you du (Anglo-Saxon, dug-an = valere); in Latin, Quomodo vales.
Well to do. This, again, is not the transitive verb (facre) but the intransitive verb (valere), and means “well to fare.” (Anglo-Saxon. dug-an = valere.
To do him i.e. cheat or trick a person out of something I have done the Jew, i.e. over-reached him. The same as outdo = excel. Do
(to rhyme with go). The first or tonic note of the solfeggio system of music.
Do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, Italian; ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la, French. The latter are borrowed from a hymn by Paulus Piaconus, addressed to St. John, which Guido, in the eleventh century, used in teaching singing: “Ut queant laxis, Re -sonare fibris”,
Mi -ra gestorum Fa -muli tuorum, Sol -ve pollutis La “-biis reatum.” Sanctë Joannës.
Ut -tered be thy wondrous story, Re -prehensive though I be, Me make mindful of thy glory, Fa -mous son of Zacharee;
Sol -ace to my spirit bring, La -bouring thy praise to sing. E.C.B. (See WEIZIUS in Heortologio, p. 263.) Le Maire added si (seventeenth century). (See Aretinian Syllables.) Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
