tal

Forms

tal m or f (masculine and feminine plural tals)^[1] Old Catalan also had aital and altal “such”;^[2][3] Llull uses aital for emphasis.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Catalan tal, which is inherited from Latin tālis (“of such a kind”).^{[3][4][5][6][1]}

The same Latin word is Occitan tal, French tel, Spanish tal, Italian tale, Portuguese tal and Romanian tare.^[1][7] Old Spanish atal and its Old Gascon counterpart parallel the Catalan aital.^[7]

De Vaan derives Latin ⟨tālis⟩ from Proto-Italic ⟨tāli-⟩ and *teh₂-li- (“such”), cognate with τηλίκος (tēlíkos, “of such an age”);^[8][1] Wiktionary analyses it as the demonstrative stem *to- with a suffix.^[8][1] Latin tāliō (“retaliation”) is probably derived from it.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

CICA's earliest record is in the Greuges de Guitard Isarn, senyor de Caboet (1080–1095).^[9] The Homilies d'Organyà warn that there are such men (tals n'i à) among those who think to deceive their neighbour.^[3] The first sense was “such, of that kind”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

From the use of the Homilies, tals n'i ha, tal came to mean “a certain person”, a use frequent in sententious style, above all in the Proverbis of Guillem de Cervera (mid-13th century): Tal à cara d'anyell qui ha cor de serpent “one may have a lamb's face and a serpent's heart”.^[3] In the chronicles it could stand for “such a blow”: Jaume I, struck by a bolt, donam tal de la mà en la sageta that he broke it.^[3][2]

Medieval writers also used it as an adverb, “thus, so much”, and in the conjunctions per tal com “because” (Metge, 1381) and per tal “therefore” (Eiximenis, 1381).^[2] Fabra's dictionary of 1932 gives per tal de “in order to” and per tal que “so that”, and marks the causal per tal com as archaic.^[10] The adverb talment is recorded in 1462, the learned talió in 1272, in the Costums de Tortosa.^[5]

Timeline

• 1080–1095 – earliest record in CICA, in the Greuges de Guitard Isarn.^[9]
• 1272 – first record of the learned talió, in the Costums de Tortosa.^[5]
• 1381 – Bernat Metge uses per tal com “because”.^[2]
• 1440 – Curial e Güelfa: Havets vos vist tal cosa?^[2]
• 1460 – the Tirant has fes l'om tal, que tal lo vull.^[2][3]
• 1462 – first record of talment.^[5]
• 1932 – Fabra marks per tal com as archaic.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. such: of this, that or a similar kind: Mai no havia sentit tal soroll.^[11][6]
2. Used to present something as definite without specifying it: Diu que arribarà tal dia a tal hora.^[11][6]

Pronoun

1. Stands for the name of a person who is not named: en tal, “so-and-so”.^[11][6]
2. Such a thing, as in the saying tal faràs, tal trobaràs “as you do, so shall you find”.^[11][6]

Adverb

1. thus, in this way, especially in tal com “just as”.^[11][1]

Word family

• talment

Related words

• aital
• talió
• Latin talis
• Occitan tal

Usage notes

The DCVB also heads a noun tal meaning talc, from Arabic ṭalq.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Faraudo de Saint-Germain, Lluís, Vocabulari de la llengua catalana medieval, online edition, Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, p. s.v. tal
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 8, 214
4. ^ a b Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. tal
5. ^ a b c d Bruguera, Jordi (1996), Diccionari etimològic, Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, p. 875
6. ^ a b c d e Enciclopèdia Catalana, Gran diccionari de la llengua catalana (GDLC), Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana; online edition, https://www.diccionari.cat, p. s.v. tal
7. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 382
8. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b Torruella, Joan; Pérez Saldanya, Manuel; Martines, Josep (dirs.), Corpus Informatitzat del Català Antic (CICA), https://www.cica.cat, p. s.v. tal
10. ^ a b Fabra, Pompeu (1932), Diccionari general de la llengua catalana, Barcelona: Llibreria Catalònia, p. s.v. tal
11. ^ a b c d e Institut d'Estudis Catalans (2007), Diccionari de la llengua catalana, 2nd ed. (DIEC2), Barcelona: Edicions 62; online edition with later updates, https://dlc.iec.cat, p. s.v. tal