tal

Forms

tal m or f (masculine and feminine plural tales)^[1] Old Spanish also had a longer form atal, found in the Cantar de mio Cid and in Alfonso X's prose.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin tālis (“of such a kind, such”); Old Spanish tal already had the modern form.^[2][4][5][1] Corominas notes that the word has been in general use at every period and is common to all the Romance languages.^[2]

The same Latin word is Portuguese tal, Galician tal, Catalan tal, French tel and Italian tale.^[6][1] The Old Spanish variant atal has a parallel in aital, and Corominas also compares a Gascon form.^[2]

The Latin adjective is formed on the demonstrative stem *to- seen in tam and tum, with the ending of -ālis.^[7][8][1] De Vaan reconstructs *tāli- and *teh₂-li- (“such”), and compares τηλίκος (tēlíkos, “of such an age”) and толи (toli, “to such a degree”).^[9] In Latin it was often paired with qualis (“of what kind”), as in a saying meaning “the son is like the father”.^[8][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas places the first record in the earliest texts of the language, the Glosas Emilianenses and the Cantar de mio Cid; the BDELC dates it to about 950.^[2][4] In the Cid (c. 1140, known from a 14th-century copy) it means “such, so”: „por tal lo faze mio Cid que no lo ventasse nadi” “my Cid does it in such a way that nobody should find out”.^[11] The Auto de los Reyes Magos (c. 1180) has „Tal estrela non es in celo” “there is no such star in the sky”.^[11]

Semantic evolution

Old Spanish used tal for “such, of this kind”, for “similar, the same” and for “so great”, senses that Alfonso X's prose already shows.^[3] Berceo has otro tal “the same thing”.^[12] Old Spanish en tal de meant “instead of”, and talque “some”, both now obsolete.^[2]

Tal cual renders Latin talis qualis in Nebrija, and Covarrubias gives the proverb tal para cual “two of a kind”.^[2][13] The Academy's dictionary of 1817 records el tal, la tal for a person not known, and the 1843 edition describes its use before a proper name for someone little known to the speaker (un tal Ruiz).^[14][15] The adverb tal vez at first meant “sometimes, once in a while”, as in Cervantes; later it came to mean “perhaps”, which, Corominas says, is more general in the Americas than in Spain.^[2][4]

In 1855 Baralt objected to tal como used as an adverb, as in French, and to nada tal for tal cosa.^[16] In much of Spanish America tal por cual names a despicable person, and in Mexico and Central America it is a euphemism for a stronger insult.^[17] In Spain y tal is a conversational filler, “and so on”, as y tal y demás was in Argentina in the early 20th century.^[18]

Timeline

• c. 950 – first record, in the Glosas Emilianenses.^[4][2]
• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid uses tal and atal.^[11][2]
• 1202 – the Cortes de Benavente use it in a law text known from no later copy.^[11]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario has a tal uertud “of such power”.^[3]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin talis and talis qualis for tal and tal cual.^[19][2]
• 1526 – first record in the Americas, in Nicaragua.^[20]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records the proverb tal para cual.^[13]
• 1613 – tal vez “sometimes” is recorded; it later came to mean “perhaps”.^[4]
• 1843 – the Academy notes tal before a proper name for a person little known.^[15]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology “Del lat. talis”.^[21]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Such, that: the one just mentioned: No pienso aceptar tal propuesta.^[5][1]
2. Of this or that kind, usually after the noun: No conozco a personas tales.^[5]
3. So great, such, in consecutive clauses with que: Hacía tal frío que nadie salió.^[5][22]
4. (colloquial) Before a proper name: a certain, a person little known to the speaker: Te llamó un tal Gómez.^[5][15]

Pronoun

1. (formal) The one just mentioned, as an attribute: Era un experto, o pasaba por tal.^[5]
2. (formal, neuter) That, the thing just mentioned: Yo nunca dije tal.^[5]

Adverb

1. (rare) So, in this way, often in correlation with cual or así como.^[5]

Word family

• tal vez
• tal cual

Related words

• talión
• cual
• Latin talis
• Portuguese tal
• French tel

Usage notes

Con tal de with an infinitive and con tal (de) que with a subjunctive mean “provided that”: Iré con tal de que me acompañes.^[5] Tal vez “perhaps” is written as two words.^[4][1]

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 h i j k Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 382
3. ^ a b c Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. tal
4. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. tal
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. tal
6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. art. 6543
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. tal
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. tal
12. ^ Lanchetas, Rufino (1900), Gramática y vocabulario de las obras de Gonzalo de Berceo, Madrid: Sucesores de Rivadeneyra, p. 737
13. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1315
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 826
15. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 687
16. ^ Baralt, Rafael María (1855), Diccionario de galicismos, Madrid: Imprenta de J. Cruzado, p. 676
17. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. tal
18. ^ Garzón, Tobías (1910), Diccionario argentino, Barcelona: Imprenta Elzeviriana de Borrás y Mestres, p. 464
19. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 420
20. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. atal
21. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 1005
22. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. tal