tall

Pronunciation

• IPA: /tɔːl/^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English tal, probably inherited from Old English ġetæl (“swift, prompt, active”),^[2][3][4] from Germanic *(ga)tala-, also the source of Old Saxon gital and Old High German gizal “quick” and Gothic untals “disobedient”, related to talzjan “to teach”.^[2][3][5] It is related to tale.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Quick, prompt: about 1385 in Barnhart, in Chaucer's Complaint of Mars,^[3] where Skeat read it as “obedient, docile”.^[6] The OED's Old English quotations for “quick, ready” (about 1000) are doubtful.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Word Origins calls this a remarkable change of meaning.^[8] In Middle English tall meant seemly or proper (about 1350), handsome (about 1450),^[7] brave and good at arms (about 1400),^[7][3] and also large or big.^[2] The modern sense, of more than average height, appears in 1530, in Palsgrave, first of persons and by the 1540s of things;^[3][2] Etymonline suggests it grew out of the senses “brave” and “handsome”, and Trench and Skeat wondered whether it was a separate word.^[2][6] Having a stated height is from the 1580s.^[2] Tall for exaggerated, as in a tall tale, is American colloquial by 1846,^[2] and tall, dark and handsome is by 1841.^[2] Stand tall first meant to walk with one's head high, then to be proud or brave.^[3] The tall poppy, a prominent person who is resented, is Australian from the mid 19th century.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 1350 – seemly, proper.^[7]
• c. 1385 – quick, prompt.^[3]
• c. 1400 – brave, valiant.^[7]
• c. 1450 – handsome.^[7]
• 1530 – high of stature.^[3]
• 1540s – of things, high.^[2]
• 1580s – of a stated height.^[2]
• 1846 – exaggerated, as in tall tale.^[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Of more than average height, especially of a person.
2. Having a stated height: six feet tall.
3. (informal) Hard to believe; exaggerated: a tall story.
4. (informal) Difficult to do: a tall order.

Adverb

1. Proudly and confidently: stand tall.

Word family

• tallish
• tallness
• tall drink
• tall fescue
• tall oil
• tall one
• tall ship

Related words

• tale
• tallboy

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Trench, Richard Chenevix (1859), A Select Glossary of English Words Used Formerly in Senses Different from Their Present, London: John W. Parker
7. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press