talus

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈtaː.ɫʊs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈtaː.lus]^[1]

Forms

tālus m (genitive tālī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *takslo-, if the diminutive taxillus “small die” is old and not made after pairs like āla and axilla.^[2][1] A connection with Welsh sawdl (“heel”) and Old Irish sál (“heel”) is difficult.^[2] Lewis and Short compared Ancient Greek τάσσω (tássō, “to arrange”), while Köbler and the OLD call the origin unclear.^[3][4][5] Isidore derived it from tolus, a round projection.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus, whose character wants a man's ankles broken.^[2][4][5] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It was the ankle bone and the ankle, as Cicero's purple robe reaching down to the heels.^[5][7] The knucklebones of sheep were used for gaming, marked on four sides, so tālī was the game of knucklebones, distinct from the six-sided dice, tesserae.^[5][3]

Vulgar Latin *tālō gave Old French talon “heel”, from which English talon “claw” was borrowed about 1400, and anatomy took English talus in the 1690s.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus speaks of breaking someone's ankles.^[5][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of a robe reaching to the heels.^[7][4]
• c. 1400 – English talon is recorded.^[8]
• 1690s – English talus “ankle bone” is recorded.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. The ankle bone; the ankle; the heel.^[5][7]
2. A knucklebone used in games, (plural) the game of knucklebones.^[5]

Word family

• tālāris
• tālārius
• tālipedō
• tālitrum
• tāxillus
• subtel
• tālō

Related words

• tessera
• English talon
• English talus

Usage notes

Festus says Talus was used as a first name among the Sabines.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
7. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com