tale

Forms

tale m or f (plural tali); often shortened to tal before a consonant.^[2][3][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin tālis (“of such a kind”), from the accusative “tālem”.^[4][5][6][1] The Latin word was in wide use, often paired with quālis (“of what kind”) and alliterating with tantus (“so great”).^[4][5] Nocentini takes it, like “tantus” and tot (“so many”), from the PIE demonstrative Proto-Indo-European *to-; de Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *tāli- and *teh₂-li- (“such”), comparing Ancient Greek τηλίκος (tēlíkos, “of such an age”).^[5][7] DELI, however, finds the exact formation obscure, and mentions Alinei's view that “tālis” “identical” comes from tālus (“knucklebone, die”).^[4]

The word is found throughout the Romance languages: French tel, Occitan tal, Catalan tal, Spanish tal, Portuguese tal, Sardinian tale and Romanian tare, which has come to mean “strong, hard”.^[5][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first records are from the end of the 12th century, in Raimbaut de Vaqueiras and in the Ritmo laurenziano, with the sense “of this or that kind”.^[4][6]

Semantic evolution

Dante used tale for “so great”, for likeness in the pair tale … tale (1308) and as an indefinite word for an unnamed person (1308), the ancestor of modern un tale, “a certain man”.^[4] The old plural had the forms tai and ta’, as in Petrarch's tra duo ta’ nemici, between two such enemies.^[9][10] Quel tale, for a person already mentioned, is recorded in Tommaseo (1879).^[4]

Compounds with tale became everyday adverbs: talvolta (1293–1294, Dante), talora (Dante), talmente (1525, Bembo), talché (before 1527, Machiavelli) and the pronoun taluno (17th century).^[4][5] The older cotale (1219) comes from Latin eccum tālem, “just such”.^[5]

Timeline

• Late 12th century – Raimbaut de Vaqueiras and the Ritmo laurenziano have the first records.^[4]
• 1219 – Cotale is recorded.^[5]
• 1293–1294 – Dante uses talvolta.^[4]
• 1308 – Dante uses tale for an unnamed person.^[4]
• 1525 – Bembo uses talmente.^[4]
• 1679 – Segneri uses taluno.^[4]
• 1879 – Quel tale is recorded in Tommaseo's dictionary.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. such, of this kind: Non mi aspettavo una tale risposta.^[6][2][3]
2. So great, with che or da introducing the result, or in exclamations: Aveva una tale sete che bevve tutta la bottiglia.^[6][2][3]
3. In correlation with another tale or with quale, expresses identity or close likeness: tale e quale (exactly the same), tale padre, tale figlio (like father, like son).^[6][2][3]
4. This, that, the aforementioned: In tali casi conviene chiamare un medico.^[6][3][11]
5. (indefinite) A certain, some: un tal signor Rossi.^[3][10]

Pronoun

1. (indefinite) Someone, a certain person: Ti ha cercato un tale, ma non ha lasciato il nome.^[6][3][1]
2. Quel tale, quella tale: the person already mentioned, il tal dei tali, so-and-so.^[6][2]

Word family

• talché
• talmente
• talora
• taluno
• talvolta
• talaltro
• cotale

Related words

• quale
• tanto
• Latin tālis

Usage notes

Before a consonant tale is often shortened to tal (in tal caso), and the short form is never written with an apostrophe.^[3][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c d e f g Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
9. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
10. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
11. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse