Etymology
1. c.1225,
talken, probably a dim. or frequentative form related to M.E.
tale "story," ultimately from the same source as tale (cf.
hark from
hear,
stalk from
steal) and replacing that word as a verb. E.Fris. has
talken "to talk, chatter, whisper." To
talk shop is from 1854. To
talk turkey is from 1824, supposedly from an elaborate joke about a swindled Indian.
Talking head is from 1968.
Talkative is first recorded 1432. To
talk back "answer impudently or rudely" is from 1869.
2. From Middle English talken, talkien, from Old English *tealcian (“to talk, chat”), from Proto-West Germanic *talkōn, from Proto-Germanic *talkōną (“to talk, chatter”), frequentative form of Proto-Germanic *talōną (“to count, recount, tell”), from Proto-Indo-European *dol-, *del- (“to aim, calculate, adjust, count”), equivalent to tell + -k.
3. Cognates
4. Cognate with Low German taalken (“to chatter, gossip, talk”). Related also to Bavarian zoin (“to pay”), Cimbrian zaln (“to pay”), Dutch talen (“to care, long; to speak; to say”), German zahlen (“to pay”), Mòcheno zoln (“to pay”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål tale (“to talk, speak”), Faroese, Icelandic, and Swedish tala (“to speak, talk”), Norwegian Nynorsk tala (“to speak, talk”); also Latin dolus (“deceit, deception, fraud, guile, treachery, trickery; malice; artifice, device, stratagem”), Ancient Greek δόλος (dólos, “deceit, trick; wiles; bait”), Armenian տող (toġ, “line (in a text)”). More at tale. Despite the surface similarity, unrelated to Proto-Indo-European *telkʷ- (“to talk”) (due to Grimm's law), which is the source of loquacious. See: Proto-Germanic '
*talōną', Low Saxon 'taalken', Dutch '
talen', German, old spelling '
zahlen', Norwegian, nynorsk '
tala'.
Verbs referencing "talk"
Hawai'i Creole English talk, Tok Pisin tok, Sranan
taki, Low Saxon taalken.