Etymology Dictionary

TALL,  high in stature, lofty.  (E. or C.?)   See Trench, Select Glossary.   M. E. tal.   'Tal, or semely, Decens, elegans;'  Prompt. Parv.   'So humble and tall;'  Chaucer, Compl. of Mars, l. 38, where the sense appears to be 'obedient or docile, or obsequious.'   In old plays it means 'valiant, fine, bold, great;' Halliwell.   In the Plowman's Tale, st. 3, untall seems to mean 'poorly clad.'   β. The curious sense of 'docile' is our guide to its etymology; this clearly links it to Goth. tals, only used in the comp. un-tals, indocile, disobedient, uninstructed, which is allied to gatils, convenient, suitable, gatilon, to obtain.   Hence, just as small corresponds to A. S. smæl, we have tall corresponding to an A. S. tæl.   This word is very rare, but it occurs in the comp. adj. leóf-tæl, friendly, Grein, ii. 176.   Still more important are the forms un-tala, un-tale, bad, used to gloss mali in the Northumb. Gospels, Matt. xxvii. 23.   Another allied word is the adj. til, fit, good, excellent, in common use (Grein, ii. 532); and cf. tela, teala, well, excellently, id. 524.   The orig. sense may have been fit, docile, suitable; from whence it is no great step to the notion of 'comely,' which is the sense suitable to its use in plays.   Lye gives also A. S. ungetal, bad, inconvenient, which presupposes the adj. tal or ge-tal, good, convenient; and Somner gives ungetælnes, unprofitableness, as if from tæl, profitable.   These traces of the word seem sufficient.   See further under Till (1).   γ. Perhaps, in the sense of 'lofty,' the word may be Celtic.   We find tal, tall, high, both in W. and Cornish; Williams instances tal carn, the high rock, in St. Allen.   It is remarkable that the Irish talla means 'meet, fit, proper, just.'   Further light is desired as to this difficult word.   Der. tall-ness.