Etymograph

English

talanton

Talanton comes from Ancient Greek τάλαντον ‘balance, scale’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *telh₂- ‘to bear, endure’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*telh₂-1‘to bear, endure’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*tl̥h₂ent-1reconstructedderived within Proto-Indo-European
  3. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*tálanton1reconstructed
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEτάλαντον2tálanton‘balance, scale’
  5. Englishtodaytalanton2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Ancient Greek τάλαντον
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English talanton

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*telh₂-Wiktionary, Ancient Greek τάλαντον‘to bear, endure’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*tl̥h₂ent-Wiktionary, Ancient Greek τάλαντονreconstructedderived within Proto-Indo-European
  3. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*tálantonWiktionary, Ancient Greek τάλαντονreconstructed
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEτάλαντονWiktionary, English talantontálanton‘balance, scale’
  5. EnglishtodaytalantonWiktionary, English talanton

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *telh₂- ‘to bear, endure’

toll, tolerance, tolerate, atlas, tolerant, tolerable, toleration, tellurium, extol, 17 more

through Ancient Greek τάλαντον ‘balance, scale’

talent

Today it means

noun A talent (ancient unit of weight and money)

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “talanton”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Ancient Greek τάλαντον. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *telh₂- / talanton

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