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I know it means roughly "for your reference", but I can't really grasp why it
means that based on my understanding of までに (which I consider roughly as
'before' or 'by'). I can't really come to any kind of reasonable literal
translation, could someone elaborate what exactly it's doing in this phrase?

My only guess is something like "before [you] consult [other materials] (look
at this)".

Thanks.
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2016-06-20T01:31:03.887
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2016-06-20T01:59:48.030
question
grammar set-phrases
How does the までに work in ご参考までに
This まで corresponds to the following definition of [まで of
デジタル大辞泉](http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/jn/208999/meaning/m0u/):

> ３ 動作・事柄がもうそれ以上には及ばず、それに限られる意を表す。…だけ。「気に入らなければ断る―さ」「念のために聞いてみた―だ」

So まで can mean _only_ or _just_. ご参考までに is " ** _just_** for your reference",
implying that information is not critically important.

Other examples:

>   * まずはご挨拶まで。  
>  (Used at the end of a formal business letter, and means something like "For
> now I can only greet, but please allow me to contact you again later")
>   * 取り急ぎ、ご報告まで(申し上げます)。  
>  "This is (only) a quick report. (details will follow)"
>
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2016-06-20T01:49:53.217
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2016-06-20T01:59:48.030
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answer
まで actually has quite a number of different (but fundamentally related)
meanings. Here, IMO, it's related to the "no more than" meaning (a bit like
にすぎない) and serves to make this expression more humble: "May this at most serve
as a reference for you" aka I feel (or at least make it seem as such to be
polite) that it may not be worthy of being used as anything more than a mere
reference.

As a related bit, it's actually an abbreviated version of one of a number of
possible longer phrases: ご参考までに（お目【め】通【とお】し・ご拝【はい】読【どく】ください）
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2016-06-20T01:53:04.423
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answer