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Sorry if this is not exactly about Russian language, but I do not know where else to ask.
What is the origin of word "это" in Russian language? Is it some kind of a combination of "je co"/"jest to" in other slavic languages? I suspect it must be really long time ago it formed since it is such a basic word so maybe it is more a question about history of languages.
Э was originally a deictic (meaning Hey, look!) particle есе / ѥсе in Old Church Slavonic that became attached to many pronouns:
Такой — этакий
Так — этак
То — это
Те — эти
It was a common feature, present also in Ukrainian, Belorussian, and other languages, originating back to PIE.
Ukrainian:
ген (there)
ген-ген (there afar)
генто (day before yesterday)
Latin
[e]quidem (of course)
Ancient Greek:
κεῖ — ἐ-κεῖ (there)
κεῖνος — ἐ-κεῖνος (that)
