Etymology Dictionary

TALON,  the claw of a bird of prey.  (F.,—L.)    Spelt talant in Palsgrave (with excrescent t after n).   He gives:  'Talant of a byrde, the hynder clawe, talon.'   Thus the talon was particularly used of the hinder claw or heel.   M.E. talon, Allit. Romance of Alexander, 5454; taloun, Mandeville's Travels, in Spec. of English, p. 174, l. 130.—F. talon, 'a heel;' Cot.—Low Lat. talonem, acc. of talo, a heel.—Lat. talus, heel.   Root uncertain.  [†]

ADDENDA

The talon must have meant not merely the hinder claw of a bird, but the hinder claw together with the toe, taking 'claw' in the widest sense.   Hawks strike with the hinder claw in pouncing; they then grip with the other claws, so as to hold firmly.   See an excellent note by Dr. Chance in N. and Q. 6 S. vi. 90.   The fact is that 'talon' and 'pounce' were hawking terms; the former was technically restricted to the hinder claw, the others being called 'pounces.'   [Such terms were used in a very fanciful manner; it was not permitted (by some hawkers) to talk of hawks' feathers.   They had no feathers at all, only plumes!]   In the Book of St. Albans, fol. a 8, we read that 'the grete clees [claws] behynde,... ye shall call hom [them] Talons;' and, 'The clees with-in the fote ye shall call... Pownces.'   From the latter term is derived the verb to pounce; but, the sb. pounce becoming obsolete, only the term talon was left, which had to be applied to all the claws alike.