  We aim to determine abundances of Li, O and Na in a sample of of 110 turn-off
(TO) stars, in order to study the evolution of light elements in this cluster
and to put our results in perspective with observations of other globular and
open clusters, as well as with field stars. We use medium resolution spectra
obtained with the GIRAFFE spectrograph at the ESO 8.2m Kueyen VLT telescope and
use state of the art 1D model atmospheres and NLTE line transfer to determine
the abundances. We also employ CO5BOLD hydrodynamical simulations to assess the
impact of stellar granulation on the line formation and inferred abundances.
Our results confirm the existence of Na-O abundance anti-correlation and hint
towards a possible Li-O anti-correlation in the TO stars of 47 Tuc. We find no
convincing evidence supporting the existence of Li-Na correlation. The obtained
3D NLTE mean lithium abundance in a sample of 94 TO stars where Li lines were
detected reliably, $\langle A({\rm Li})_{\rm 3D~NLTE}\rangle = 1.78 \pm 0.18$
dex, appears to be significantly lower than what is observed in other globular
clusters. At the same time, star-to-star spread in Li abundance is also larger
than seen in other clusters. The highest Li abundance observed in 47 Tuc is
about 0.1 dex lower than the lowest Li abundance observed among the un-depleted
stars of the metal-poor open cluster NGC 2243. The lithium abundances in 47
Tuc, when put into context with observations in other clusters and field stars,
suggest that stars that are more metal-rich than [FeH] \sim -1.0 experience
significant lithium depletion during their lifetime on the main sequence, while
the more metal-poor stars do not. Rather strikingly, our results suggest that
initial lithium abundance with which the star was created may only depend on
its age (the younger the star, the higher its Li content) and not on its
metallicity.
