O.E. talu "story, tale, the action of telling," from P.Gmc. *talo (cf. Du. taal "speech, language"), from PIE base *del- "to recount, count." The secondary Eng. sense of "number, numerical reckoning" (c.1200) probably was the primary one in Gmc., cf. teller (see tell) and O.Fris. tale, M.Du. tal "number," O.S. tala "number," O.H.G. zala, Ger. Zahl "number." The ground sense of the Mod.Eng. word in its main meaning, then, might have been "an account of things in their due order." Related to talk and tell. Meaning "things divulged that were given secretly, gossip" is from c.1350; first record of talebearer "tattletale" is 1478.
a message that tells the particulars of an act or occurrence or course of events; presented in writing or drama or cinema or as a radio or television program; "his narrative was interesting"; "Disney's stories entertain adults as well as children" [syn: narrative]
2.
a trivial lie; "he told a fib about eating his spinach"; "how can I stop my child from telling stories?" [syn: fib]
TALE Typed Applicative Language Experiment. M. van Leeuwen. Lazy, purely applicative, polymorphic. Based on typed second order lambda-calculus. "Functional Programming and the Language TALE", H.P. Barendregt et al, in Current Trends in Concurrency, LNCS 224, Springer 1986, pp.122-207.
Tael\, n. [Malay ta?l, a certain weight, probably fr. Hind. tola, Skr. tul[=a] a balance, weight, tul to weigh.] A denomination of money, in China, worth nearly six shillings sterling, or about a dollar and forty cents; also, a weight of one ounce and a third. [Written also tale.]
Tale\, n. [AS. talu number, speech, narrative; akin to D. taal speech, language, G. zahl number, OHG. zala, Icel. tal, tala, number, speech, Sw. tal, Dan. tal number, tale speech, Goth. talzjan to instruct. Cf. Tell, v. t., Toll a tax, also Talk, v. i.]1. That which is told; an oral relation or recital; any rehearsal of what has occured; narrative; discourse; statement; history; story. "The tale of Troy divine." --Milton. "In such manner rime is Dante's tale." --Chaucer. We spend our years as a tale that is told. --Ps. xc. 9. 2. A number told or counted off; a reckoning by count; an enumeration; a count, in distinction from measure or weight; a number reckoned or stated. The ignorant, . . . who measure by tale, and not by weight. --Hooker. And every shepherd tells his tale, Under the hawthornn in the dale. --Milton. In packing, they keep a just tale of the number. --Carew. 3. (Law) A count or declaration. [Obs.] To tell tale of, to make account of. [Obs.] Therefore little tale hath he told Of any dream, so holy was his heart. --Chaucer. Syn: Anecdote; story; fable; incident; memoir; relation; account; legend; narrative.
(1.) Heb. tokhen, "a task," as weighed and measured out = tally, i.e., the number told off; the full number (Ex. 5:18; see 1 Sam. 18:27; 1 Chr. 9:28). In Ezek. 45:11 rendered "measure." (2.) Heb. hegeh, "a thought;" "meditation" (Ps. 90:9); meaning properly "as a whisper of sadness," which is soon over, or "as a thought." The LXX. and Vulgate render it "spider;" the Authorized Version and Revised Version, "as a tale" that is told. In Job 37:2 this word is rendered "sound;" Revised Version margin, "muttering;" and in Ezek. 2:10, "mourning."
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