query

[Douglas G. Wilson]

>... here in south central Missouri, it's quite common to hear
>local people use "to" when they mean "at", such as "I got this new chair
>over to Wal-Mart."  or  "He won't be in this afternoon because he's over to
>the doctor."   How do you think this usage evolved?

The use of "to" for "at [a position]" is old. The OED gives examples from
as early as the 10th Century. But this has mostly disappeared from English
except in dialectal and US colloquial use. I would suppose that this is
simply a conservative/dialectal form which came to America with the English
language, but a reappearance based on German is also conceivable ("zu"
meaning both "to" and "at" in standard German). I remember occasionally
hearing "to home" for "at home" many times as a child ... but it may have
been a humorous imitation of a quaint rustic usage.

-- Doug Wilson