# tale
## English
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈteɪl/
* Audio (General Australian):(file)
* Rhymes: -eɪl
* Homophone: tail

### Etymology 1

From Middle English tale, from Old English talu (“tale, series, calculation”), from Proto-West Germanic *talu, from Proto-Germanic *talō (“calculation, number”), from Proto-Indo-European *del- (“to reckon, count”).
Cognate with West Frisian taal (“speech, language”), Dutch taal (“language, speech”), German Zahl (“number, figure”), Danish tale (“speech”), Icelandic tala (“speech, talk, discourse, number, figure”), Latin dolus (“guile, deceit, fraud”), Ancient Greek δόλος (dólos, “wile, bait”), Albanian ndjell (“to lure”), Northern Kurdish til (“finger”), Old Armenian տող (toł, “row”). Related to tell, talk.

#### Noun

tale (plural tales)
* A rehearsal of what has occurred; narrative; discourse; statement; history; story.
    the Canterbury Tales
** 1631, John Milton, L'Allegro:And every shepherd tells his tale Under the hawthorn in the dale.
** 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 214:But can you guess what there was in the box? Why, it was a calf's tail, and if the calf's tail had been longer this tale would have been longer too.
** 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Citadel:Barla Von: What's this? One of the Earth-clan? Ah, a very famous one, yes? You are the one called Shepard. Barla Von: The tale of how you survived the great tragedy on Akuze is truly remarkable. I am amazed each time I hear it.
* A number told or counted off; a reckoning by count; an enumeration.
** 1594, Richard Hooker, Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, Book I, Preface, §4:the ignorant, […] who measure by tale, and not by weight
** 1602, Richard Carew, Survey of Cornwall:In packing, they keep a just tale of the number that every hogshead containeth ...
** 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
* (slang) The fraudulent opportunity presented by a confidence man to the mark or victim.
* 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.
    Don't tell tales!
** 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter VII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:“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. […]”
* (obsolete) Number; tally; quota.
** 1611, King James Version, Exodus 5:8:And the tale of the bricks, which they did make heretofore, ye shall lay upon them; ye shall not diminish ought thereof: for they be idle; therefore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God.
** 1697, John Dryden, The Works of Virgil, Pastoral III:Both number twice a day the milky dams And once she takes the tale of all the lambs.
** 1890, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 1, page 237:To appease the angry god, two hundred children of the noblest families were picked out for sacrifice, and the tale of victims was swelled by not less than three hundred more who volunteered to die for the fatherland.
* (obsolete) Account; estimation; regard; heed.
* (obsolete) Speech; language.
* (obsolete) A speech; a statement; talk; conversation; discourse.
* (law, obsolete) A count; declaration.
* (rare or archaic) A number of things considered as an aggregate; sum.
* (rare or archaic) A report of any matter; a relation; a version.
** 1605, Francis Bacon, Of the Proficience and Advancement of Learning, Divine and Human, Volume I, Chapter IX:[…] birds […] are aptest by their voice to tell tales what they find; and likewise by the motion of their flight to express the same.

##### Derived terms

* aftertale
* Banbury tale
* blab-tale
* cautionary tale
* dead men tell no tales
* fairy-tale
* fairy-tale ending
* fairy tale, fairytale
* fish tale
* folk tale, folktale
* foretale
* frame tale
* live to tell the tale
* Milesian tale
* morality tale
* old wives' tale
* shaggy-dog tale
* shaggy dog tale
* spin a tale
* talebearer
* tale-bearer
* tale bearer
* talebearing
* talebook
* taleful
* tale of the tape
* tale of woe
* tale-teller
* tall tale
* tattletale
* tell its own tale
* tell-tale
* telltale
* tell tale
* telltale compass
* tell tales
* tell tales out of school
* tell-tale-tit
* thereby hangs a tale
* traveller's tale

##### Translations
### Etymology 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”).
Cognate with Dutch talen (“to long, care”), German zahlen (“to pay”), 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)
* (dialectal or obsolete) To speak; discourse; tell tales.
* (dialectal, chiefly Scotland) To reckon; consider (someone) to have something.

##### Derived terms

* taler

### Etymology 3
#### Noun

tale (plural tales)
* Alternative form of tael

### See also

* pourquoi tale

### Anagrams

* teal, tael, et. al, atel-, LATE, late, TEAl, Elta, TEAL, et al, Teal, tela, leat, EATL, ETLA, et al.

## Afrikaans
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /tɑːlə/
* Audio:(file)

### Noun

tale
* plural of taal

## Azerbaijani
### Etymology

From Arabic طَالِع (ṭāliʕ).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [tɑːˈle(h)]
* Hyphenation: ta‧le
* Audio:(file)

### Noun

tale (usually uncountable, definite accusative taleyi)
* fate, destiny, lot
    Synonyms: qismət, müqəddərat, qədər
    Onların sonraki taleyi məlum deyil. ― Their subsequent fate is unknown.
* fortune (destiny, especially favorable)
    Synonyms: bəxt, iqbal, nəsib
* future destiny
    Synonyms: gələcək, müqəddərat

#### Derived terms

* taleyüklü (“fateful”)

### Further reading

* “tale” in Obastan.com.

## Danish
### Etymology

From Old Norse tala.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ˈtˢæːlə]

### Noun

tale c (singular definite talen, plural indefinite taler)
* speech, talk, address, discourse

#### Inflection
### Verb

tale (imperative tal, infinitive at tale, present tense taler, past tense talte, perfect tense har talt)
* to make a speech
* to speak, talk

#### Conjugation

activepassive
present
taler
tales
past
talte
taltes
infinitive
tale
tales
imperative
tal
participle
present
talende
past
talt (auxiliary verb have)
gerund
talen :

### Further reading

* “tale” in Den Danske Ordbog

## Dutch
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈtaː.lə/
* Audio:(file)
* Hyphenation: ta‧le

### Noun

tale f (plural talen, diminutive taaltje n)
* Obsolete form of taal.

## French
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /tal/
* Audio:(file)

### Verb

tale
* inflection of taler:
** first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
** second-person singular imperative

### Anagrams

* étal

## Ido
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈtale/

### Adverb

tale
* hence

## Italian
### Etymology

From Latin tālis.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈta.le/
* Rhymes: -ale
* Hyphenation: tà‧le

### Determiner

tale (plural tali)
* such

#### Related terms

* talaltro
* talché
* talmente
* talora
* taluno

### Anagrams

* alte, late, tela

## Latin
### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈtaː.le/, [ˈt̪äːɫ̪ɛ]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈta.le/, [ˈt̪äːle]

### Adjective

tāle
* nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular of tālis

### Noun

tāle
* vocative singular of tālus

### References

* "tale", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)

## Limburgish
### Noun

tale
* plural of taal

## Middle Dutch
### Etymology

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

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈtaːlə/

### Noun

tāle f
* spoken or written words, that which someone says
* language

#### Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

#### Descendants

* Dutch: taal
** Afrikaans: taal
* West Flemish: toale

### Further reading

* “tale (I)”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
* Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “tale (I)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN, page I

## Middle English
### Alternative forms

* tal, talle
* taile, taille (chiefly Northern ME)

### Etymology

From Old English talu, from Proto-West Germanic *talu.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈtaːl(ə)/, /ˈtal(ə)/

### Noun

tale (plural tales)
* personal narrative, account

#### Related terms

* nyghtertale

#### Descendants

* English: tale
* Scots: tale
* Yola: taale

#### References

* “tā̆le, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

## Northern Kurdish
### Noun

tale ?
* happiness

## Norwegian Bokmål
### Etymology

From Old Norse tala.

### Noun

tale m (definite singular talen, indefinite plural taler, definite plural talene)
* speech, talk, address, discourse

#### Derived terms

* dagligtale
* radiotale
* samtale
* talespråk
* talsmann
* tordentale
* trontale
* tungetale
* uttale

### Verb

tale (imperative tal, present tense taler, passive tales, simple past talte, past participle talt, present participle talende)
* to make a speech
* to speak, talk

#### Derived terms

* baktale
* engelsktalende
* fransktalende
* omtale
* overtale
* praktisk talt
* talerett
* taletrengt
* uttale

### References

* “tale” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

## Norwegian Nynorsk
### Etymology

From Old Norse tala.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /²tɑːlə/

### Noun

tale m (definite singular talen, indefinite plural talar, definite plural talane)
tale f (definite singular tala, indefinite plural taler, definite plural talene)
* speech
* a speech, talk, discourse, an address

#### Derived terms

* radiotale
* samtale
* talespråk
* talsmann
* tungetale
* uttale

### Verb

tale (present tense talar or taler, past tense tala or talte, past participle tala or talt, passive infinitive talast, present participle talande, imperative tal)
* alternative form of tala (tala is split-infinitive and/or a-infinitive verb form)

#### Derived terms

* overtale
* talerett

### References

* “tale” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

## Old English
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈtɑ.le/

### Noun

tale
* inflection of talu:
** nominative plural
** accusative singular/plural
** genitive/dative singular

## Portuguese
### Verb

tale
* inflection of talar:
** first/third-person singular present subjunctive
** third-person singular imperative

## Romanian
### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ˈta.le]
* Audio:(file)

### Pronoun

tale
* feminine plural of tău
    Fiicele tale îmi spuneau despre casa voastră nouă.Your daughters were telling me about your new house.
* neuter plural of tău

## Slovene
### Pronoun

tale
* (proximal demonstrative) this, this one

## Spanish
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈtale/ [ˈt̪a.le]
* Rhymes: -ale
* Syllabification: ta‧le

### Verb

tale
* inflection of talar:
** first/third-person singular present subjunctive
** third-person singular imperative

## Ternate
### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ˈta.le]

### Verb

tale
* to carry weight

#### Conjugation
### References

* Rika Hayami-Allen (2001) A descriptive study of the language of Ternate, the northern Moluccas, Indonesia, University of Pittsburgh