Why is the word 'tomorrow' sometimes written as 'to-morrow' in literature?

It used to be two words.

The normal progression is from "open" (two separate words) to hyphenated to "closed" (one word). This expression followed that pattern. So in older writings you see it with the hyphen before it became closed.

For some words, that kind of change takes a long time. For others, it can happen very quickly. In just a few years the expression "online" went from having no meaning at all (it didn't exist) to being two words to being hyphenated, and now it is most commonly seen solid or closed, without a hyphen. This change has occurred over a period of about 40 years, not long in historical time.

Many high-tech terms evolve rapidly. Other expressions, such as "to-morrow," may take centuries to change.

Our english came from our ancestors

If you read any early English literature, like Beowulf or anything like that, you will find that their english was quite different than ours, with most words quite different, sometimes amost incoherent, than the ones we use today, but then again, american is to english as spanish is to portuguese, which is to say a gross perversion of the language.

First answer by SapphireMoon. Last edit by Maesterseargant. Contributor trust: 306 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 27 [recommend question]