talu

Forms

talu f (strong ō-stem; genitive singular tale, nominative plural tala)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *talu, from Proto-Germanic *talō (“calculation, number, speech”).^[1][2] The Proto-Germanic noun is continued by Old Norse tala (“speech; number”), Old Frisian tele (“number; story”) and Old High German zala (“number; calculation”), with Old Saxon tala as well.^[3][4] Holthausen gives the Old Frisian form as tale.^[5] Kroonen sets it beside the neuter *tala-, and beside the verb *talōjan- (“to count”) behind Old English talian.^[3] Orel calls it a variant of *talan.^[4]

Köbler connects it, with a question mark, to the root Proto-Indo-European *del- (“to aim, calculate, count”) of Pokorny.^[6][7] Holthausen asks whether Old Armenian տող (toł, “row, line”) belongs here,^[5] and Wiktionary's reconstruction page puts the same Armenian word beside Ancient Greek δόλος (dólos, “trick, bait”) under a root *del(H)- (“to draw, attract”).^[1]

In the singular the West Germanic forms *talu and genitive *talā would have become *tælu, *tælǣ, but the back vowel of the nominative was restored in Old English ⟨talu⟩, ⟨tale⟩.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first securely dated record is in Ælfric's first series of Catholic Homilies, in a manuscript of about 990: “Se þe forlæt bysmorlice spellunga and talu” “he who gives up shameful stories and tales”.^[8][9] The word is rare in the corpus, with eleven occurrences of the form talu in eight texts; the other case forms are shared with the noun tæl and cannot date it.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The core senses are a reckoning or series (Holthausen and Köbler give “number, row” first) and that which is told: a story, an account, a statement.^[5][6][10] From telling it moved into talk and dispute, glossing Latin “disputatio” and “contentio”, and into law, where it is a charge or claim brought against someone and also a plea in defence: the high priests sought tale against Jesus for the Latin “testimonium” of Mark 14:55.^[11] In a charter it is the right to bring an action, named beside team and ahnung.^[12] Clark Hall also records the sense “list” from the glossaries.^[10]

The word lived on as Middle English tale, an account told or a story, and the English word tale.^[13][14]

Timeline

• s. x ex. – bysmorlice spellunga and talu “shameful stories and tales” in Ælfric's Catholic Homilies I (Royal 7 C. xii).^[8][9]
• s. xi – þa talu “the claim” in a Herefordshire lawsuit of 1016×1035, in a manuscript of the eleventh century.^[15][9]
• s. xi in. – talu in the legend of the Seven Sleepers, its earliest manuscript.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. a reckoning, number, series; a list.^[5][10]
2. a tale, story, account; a statement or narrative.^[11][10]
3. talk, discussion, dispute.^[11]
4. (law) a charge or claim; an accusation, an action at law.^[11][12]
5. an excuse, a defence.^[11]

Word family

• bōctalu
• frumtalu
• ġēantalu

Descendants

• Middle English tale (→ English tale; Scots tale)^[1]

Related words

• talian
• tellan
• tæl

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 196
3. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 508
4. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 401
5. ^ a b c d Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 342
6. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. talu
7. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
8. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 407
9. ^ a b c d e Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
10. ^ a b c d Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 337
11. ^ a b c d e Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 971
12. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 720
13. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
14. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
15. ^ The Electronic Sawyer: Online Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon Charters, revised ed. by S. E. Kelly and R. Rushforth, King's College London / University of Cambridge, esawyer.lib.cam.ac.uk, p. S 1462