# talus
## English
### Alternative forms

* tallus

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈteɪləs/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)
* Rhymes: -eɪləs

### Etymology 1

From Latin tālus.

#### Noun

talus (plural tali)
* (anatomy) The bone of the ankle.

##### Synonyms

* anklebone
* astragalus

##### Derived terms

* talar

##### See also

* bone

### Etymology 2

From French talus.

#### Noun

talus (plural taluses)
* (geology) A sloping heap of fragments of rock lying at the foot of a precipice.
** 1994, Cormac McCarthy, The Crossing:By the time he reached the first talus slides under the tall escarpments of the Pilares the dawn was not far to come.
** 2024 May 29, Nick Brodrick, “Between a rock and a wet place...”, in RAIL, number 1010, page 39:Above here is what is known as a talus slope - sandstone that has gradually disintegrated and tumbled down to create a menacing sloping pile of loose rock.
* (architecture) The slope of an embankment wall, which is thicker at the bottom than at the top.

##### Coordinate terms

* colluvium
* scree

##### References

* William Duane, A Military Dictionary, p. 179.
* Talus in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

### Anagrams

* Altus, Aults, Austl., Latus, Tauls, Tulsa, latus, sault

## Estonian
### Noun

talus
* inessive singular of talu

## French
### Etymology

Unknown. Possibly from Gaulish *talutum (“slope”), derived from *talu (“front”), from Proto-Celtic *talu (“front”). Compare Latin talutium (“slope containing gold deposits”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ta.ly/
* Audio:(file)

### Noun

talus m (plural talus)
* slope, embankment

#### Descendants

* → Catalan: talús
* → English: talus
* → Spanish: talud
** → Dutch: talud
** → English: talud
** → Galician: talude
** → Portuguese: talude

### References

* ↑ Delamarre, Xavier (2003) “talu-, talamon-”, in Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise: une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental [Dictionary of the Gaulish language: A linguistic approach to Old Continental Celtic] (Collection des Hespérides; 9), 2nd edition, Éditions Errance, →ISBN, page 288

### Further reading

* “talus”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

### Anagrams

* salut

## Latin
### Etymology

From Proto-Italic *tākslos, with multiple theories proposed:
* Possibly from Proto-Indo-European *téh₂g-s-los, from *teh₂g- (“to touch”) (whence tangō).
* Alternatively, cognate with Sanskrit तल (tala, “plane, surface”). (Can this etymology be sourced?)
* From *steh₂- (“to stand”) +‎ *-tleh₂/*-dʰleh₂ (instrument noun suffix), and directly cognate with Welsh sawdl (“heel”). This is phonetically difficult, as it requires an s-less variant of *steh₂-, as well as addition of an unknown and arbitrary suffix *-k-.

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈtaː.lus/, [ˈt̪äːɫ̪ʊs̠]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈta.lus/, [ˈt̪äːlus]

### Noun

tālus m (genitive tālī); second declension
* (anatomy) the ankle or anklebone (of animals), talus; knucklebone
* (dice games) an oblong die rounded at its ends and only marked on its other four sides
    Coordinate terms: tessera, ālea
* (figuratively) the heel

#### Declension

Second-declension noun.

#### Synonyms

* (heel): calx, tālō (Medieval Latin)

#### Derived terms

* subtel
* tālāris
* tālārius
* tālō; tālōnus (Medieval Latin, from Romance)
* tāxillus

#### Descendants

* ⇒ Vulgar Latin: *tālōnis
** Old French: talon
*** French: talon
*** Norman: talon (Jersey)
*** → Middle English: taloun
**** English: talon
** Italian: tallone
* Borrowings:
** → English: talus
** → Italian: talo, ⇒ talismo
** → Portuguese: tálus

### References

* “talus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “talus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
* "talus", 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)
* talus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
* Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co. (ambiguous) the conversation began in this way: sermo inductus a tali exordio
* “talus”, in The Perseus Project (1999) Perseus Encyclopedia‎
* “talus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
* “talus”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin
* ↑ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 605-6