My mother used a couple of phrases that I'm wondering where came from. One was not one iota, which I know is Greek (though we don't pronounce it in the Greek way). The other was bless his little teemy timo. That was usually said of a child of whom sympathy was due or of whom it needed to be recognized that his small efforts were great in proportion to his ability. I wondered if teemy timo was just a corruption of teeny, tiny (as in bless his teeny, tiny heart) or if another Greek word timē (which carries the connotation value) was involved.
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