Talk:tall

Etymology

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

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

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

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)