Etymograph

English

talk

Talk comes from Middle English talken, from Old English *tealcian ‘to talk’, from Proto-Germanic *talkōną, from *talōną ‘to count’, ultimately from PIE *dol-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dol-1reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*talōną1‘to count’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*talkōną1‘to talk’reconstructedfrequentative form of *talōną
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*talkōn1‘to talk’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150*tealcian1‘to talk’reconstructed
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500talken1
  7. Englishearliest quotation c. 1596–1598talk1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English talk
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1596–1598, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice: “I will buy with you, sell with you, talk…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dol-Wiktionary, English talkreconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*talōnąWiktionary, English talk‘to count’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*talkōnąWiktionary, English talk‘to talk’reconstructedfrequentative form of *talōną
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*talkōnWiktionary, English talk‘to talk’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150*tealcianWiktionary, English talk‘to talk’reconstructed
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500talkenWiktionary, English talk
  7. Englishearliest quotation c. 1596–1598talkWiktionary, English talk. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1596–1598, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice: “I will buy with you, sell with you, talk…”

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with talk, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Proto-Indo-European *dol-

  • tell ← tellen ← tellan ← *talljan ← *taljaną
  • tall ← *tæl ← *talaz

through Proto-Germanic *talōną ‘to count, recount, tell’

  • tale ← talen ← talian ← *talōn

Explore everything descended from *dol- →

Another origin of talk

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500talk‘conversation’
  2. Englishtodaytalk

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Today it means

verb To communicate, usually by means of speech.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “talk”. 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 *dol- / talk