German

Noun

Tale

1. (archaic) dative singular of Tal

English

Noun

tale ‎(plural tales)

1. (obsolete) Number.
2. (obsolete) Account; estimation; regard; heed.
3. (obsolete) Speech; language.
4. (obsolete) A speech; a statement; talk; conversation; discourse.
5. (law, obsolete) A count; declaration.
6. (rare or archaic) Numbering; enumeration; reckoning; account; count.
   • John Dryden

     Both number twice a day the milky dams; And once she takes the tale of all the lambs.

7. (rare or archaic) A number of things considered as an aggregate; sum.
8. (rare or archaic) A report of any matter; a relation; a version.
9. An account of an asserted fact or circumstance; a rumour; a report, especially an idle or malicious story; a piece of gossip or slander; a lie.
   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 7, in The Mirror and the Lamp:

     “A very welcome, kind, useful present, that means to the parish. By the way, Hopkins, let this go no further. We don't want the tale running round that a rich person has arrived. Churchill, my dear fellow, we have such greedy sharks, and wolves in lamb's clothing. […]”

   Don't tell tales!‎

10. A rehearsal of what has occurred; narrative; discourse; statement; history; story.

    the Canterbury Tales‎

11. A number told or counted off; a reckoning by count; an enumeration.
    • Hooker

      the ignorant, […] who measure by tale, and not by weight

    • Milton

      And every shepherd tells his tale, / Under the hawthorn in the dale.

    • Carew

      In packing, they keep a just tale of the number.

    • 1843 Thomas Carlyle, Past and Present, book 2, ch. 5, Twelfth Century

      They proceeded with some rigour, these Custodiars; took written inventories, clapt-on seals, exacted everywhere strict tale and measure

12. (slang) The fraudulent opportunity presented by a confidence man to the mark (sense 3.3) of a confidence game.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English talen, from Old English talian ‎(“to count, calculate, reckon, account, consider, think, esteem, value, argue, tell, relate, impute, assign”), from Proto-Germanic *talōną ‎(“to count”), from Proto-Indo-European *del- ‎(“to count, reckon, aim, calculate, adjust”). Cognate with German zählen ‎(“to count, number, reckon”), Swedish tala ‎(“to speak, talk”), Icelandic tala ‎(“to talk”).

Verb

tale ‎(third-person singular simple present tales, present participle taling, simple past and past participle taled)

1. (dialectal or obsolete) To speak; discourse; tell tales.
2. (dialectal, chiefly Scotland) To reckon; consider (someone) to have something.

Derived terms

• taler

Etymology 3

Noun

tale ‎(plural tales)

1. Alternative form of tael

Anagrams

• et al., ETLA, late, leat, tael, teal, tela

Afrikaans

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɑːlə/

Noun

tale

1. plural of taal

Danish

Etymology

From Old Norse tala

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /taːlə/, [ˈtˢæːlə]

Noun

tale c (singular definite talen, plural indefinite taler)

1. speech, talk, address, discourse

Inflection

Verb

tale ‎(imperative tal, infinitive at tale, present tense taler, past tense talte, perfect tense har talt)

1. To make a speech
2. speak, talk

French

Verb

tale

1. first-person singular present indicative of taler
2. third-person singular present indicative of taler
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of taler
4. first-person singular present subjunctive of taler
5. second-person singular imperative of taler

Anagrams

• étal

Ido

Adverb

tale

1. hence

Italian

Etymology

From Latin tālis.

Adjective

tale m, f ‎(masculine and feminine plural tali)

1. such

Related terms

• talaltro
• talché
• talmente
• talora
• taluno

Anagrams

• alte, tela

Kurdish

Noun

tale ?

1. happiness

Latin

Adjective

tāle

1. nominative neuter singular of tālis
2. accusative neuter singular of tālis
3. vocative neuter singular of tālis

Noun

tāle

1. vocative singular of tālus

References

• TALE in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)

Limburgish

Noun

tale

1. languages

Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch *tala, from Proto-Germanic *talō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtaːlə/

Noun

tale f

1. spoken or written words, that which someone says
2. language

Descendants

• Dutch: taal
  • Afrikaans: taal

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Old Norse tala.

Noun

tale m ‎(definite singular talen, indefinite plural taler, definite plural talene)

1. speech, talk, address, discourse

Derived terms

Verb

tale ‎(imperative tal, present tense taler, passive tales, simple past talte, past participle talt, present participle talende)

1. to make a speech
2. to speak, talk

Derived terms

References

• “tale” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈta.le]

Pronoun

tale

1. feminine plural form of tău

   fiicele tale îmi spuneau despre casa voastră nouă

   your daughters were telling me about your new house.

2. neuter plural form of tău

Spanish

Verb

tale

1. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of talar.
2. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of talar.
3. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of talar.
4. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of talar.