Etymology
1. O.E.
talu "story, tale, the action of telling," from P.Gmc.
*talo (cf. Du.
taal "speech, language"), from PIE base
*del- "to recount, count." The secondary Eng. sense of "number, numerical reckoning" (c.1200) probably was the primary one in Gmc., cf.
teller (see tell) and O.Fris.
tale, M.Du.
tal "number," O.S.
tala "number," O.H.G.
zala, Ger.
Zahl "number." The ground sense of the Mod.Eng. word in its main meaning, then, might have been "an account of things in their due order." Related to talk and tell. Meaning "things divulged that were given secretly, gossip" is from c.1350; first record of
talebearer "tattletale" is 1478.
2. From Middle English talen, from Old English talian (“to count, calculate, reckon”), from Proto-West Germanic *talōn, from Proto-Germanic *talōną (“to count”), from Proto-Indo-European *del- (“to count, reckon, aim, calculate, adjust”).
3. Cognate with Dutch talen (“to long, care”), German zahlen (“to pay”), Swedish tala (“to speak, talk”), Icelandic tala (“to talk”). See: Old English '
talian', Proto-Germanic '
*talōną', Dutch '
talen', German, old spelling '
zahlen', Swedish '
tala', Icelandic '
tala'.
Verbs referencing "tale"
German, old spelling
zahlen, Dutch
talen, Alemannic German
zale.