Talk:tall
Etymology[edit]
The English word tall does not seem to have any cognates in other Germanic languages, but Welsh has tal in the same meaning. Is Welsh the origin? Jcwf 16:12, 24 February 2011 (UTC)
- Also sagte der Pokorny: vom s-Stamm *talaz- n.: got. talzian ‘belehren’, un-tals ‘ungelehrig, ungehorsam’, dazu ags. getæl ‘rasch, schnell’, as. gital ahd. gizal ‘schnell’ (eng. ‘tall’). So, no, not from Welsh. —Stephen (Talk) 17:19, 24 February 2011 (UTC)
- I have no doubt that there is a Germanic root meaning to tell/ to count, but how do you get to the height of a human being from that (or even: speed) from that? Jcwf 18:38, 24 February 2011 (UTC)
- I have added some EME senses, and ordered them as to show the sense evolution from obedient>valiant>handsome>of greater than average stature>tall. Hope this helps. Leasnam 18:47, 24 February 2011 (UTC)
- This Germanic root is not related to the root of Zahl, erzählen. Forms of *talaz- did not reach Modern German, as far as I know, so no modern cognates in German. —Stephen (Talk) 08:47, 25 February 2011 (UTC)
The Welsh TAL and its Cornish id. do not directly connect with English TALL: they may be borrowed from English; but the Anglo-Saxon meaning sets aside this origin as in Welsh. The only other option is that TALL is borrowed from Welsh[3], either literally or phonographically and that the Old English = Anglo-Saxon form is from a separate origin. There is the Welsh *TAL[5] or *STAL in CYSTAL, (comparative of DA,(good)), that may from the same Indo-European root, but the etymology in the main page[7] of TALL is the safest one here.
[0] means 'Absolutely not; [1] means 'Exceedingly unlikely'; [2] means 'Very dubious'; [3] means 'Questionable'; [4] means 'Possible'; [5] means 'Probable'; [6] means 'Likely'; [7] means 'Most Likely' or *Unattested; [8] means 'Attested'; [9] means 'Obvious' - only used for close matches within the same language or dialect, at linkable periods.
Andrew H. Gray 21:51, 4 November 2015 (UTC) 19:12, 20 August 2015 (UTC) Andrew (talk)
Many obsolete meanings are listed first[edit]
Many obsolete meanings are listed first. I don't think this is a good format for the typical dictionary user. Equinox ◑ 19:49, 15 March 2014 (UTC)
Done Seems to have been fixed. Equinox ◑ 01:27, 2 October 2015 (UTC)
proudly[edit]
in a proud or courageous way Microsoft® Encarta® 2009
So "stand/walk tall" would be derivable from this meaning --Backinstadiums (talk) 10:20, 6 September 2019 (UTC)
His height was about five feet, ten inches tall[edit]
His height was about five feet, ten inches tall https://www.wordreference.com/definition/height
What meaning of tall makes the addition of the word height too in the same sentence without redundancy? --Backinstadiums (talk) 17:09, 18 February 2020 (UTC)
- It's just casual speech. You overthink these things in my opinion. It's like "the bicycle was red", "the colour of the bicycle was red": even though colours don't have a colour. Equinox ◑ 17:20, 18 February 2020 (UTC)