Etymology Dictionary

TALENT,  a weight or sum of money, natural gift or ability, inclination.   (F.,—L.,—Gk.)   See Trench, Study of Words, and Select Glossary.   We derive the sense of ability from the parable in Matt. xxv, our talents being gifts of God.   The M. E. talent occurs in the sense of will or inclination, from the figure of the inclination or tilting of a balance.   M. E. talent; whence mal-talent, ill-will, Rom. of the Rose, 274, 340; and see Wyclif, Matt. xxv. 15; King Alisaunder, 1280.—F. talent, 'a talent in mony; also will, desire, an earnest humour unto;' Cot.—Lat. talentum.—Gk. τάλαντον, a balance; a weight, weight or sum of money, talent.   Named from the notion of lifting and bearing; allied to τάλας (stem ταλαντ-), bearing, enduring, suffering, ἔ-τλην, I endured, Lat. tol-erare, to endure, toll-ere, to lift, sustain, Skt. tul, to lift, weigh, tulana, lifting, tulá, a balance, weight.   All from ✔TAL (for TAR), to lift; Fick, i. 601.   See Tolerate.   Der. talent-ed, endued with talent, added by Todd to Johnson, with the remark that the word is old; he gives a quotation from Archbp. Abbot, in Rushworth's Collections, p. 449; which book first appeared between 1659 and 1701, and treats of matters from 1618-1648; see an excellent note on talented in Modern English, by F. Hall, p. 70.