history - What is the origin of the phrase, "Put two and two together?"


I used the phrase, "She put two and two together..." the other day and, shortly after saying, wondered about its origin. My understanding is that it means to "connect the dots" or to figure the answer to a question, but I'm uncertain why "put two and two together" became a synonym.


My guess is that it originally had a longer form, like, "She put two and two together to get four," but that the "to get four" part has fallen out of usage.



Answer



A query by "put two and two together" on the COHA (1810s-2000s) shows that the phrase appeared in sentences without a longer form since 1848 at least (1848 is the year of the first result). There are occurrences of a longer form "put two and two together and make four". It's not clear whether the shorter form derived from the longer form, but I'd say that your hypothesis makes sense.


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