entry
tally
/ˈtæli/A counted record; a matching score.
From Latin talea (a cutting).
from Latin talea "a cutting, rod, stick" (see tailor (n.), and compare the sense history of score (n.)). The broader...
from Medieval Latin tallia
from Anglo-French tallie (early 14c., Old French taille "notch in a piece of wood signifying a debt"), Anglo-Latin...
Word Ancestry
from Latin talea "a cutting, rod, stick" (see tailor (n.), and compare the sense history of score (n.)). The broader...
from Medieval Latin tallia
from Anglo-French tallie (early 14c., Old French taille "notch in a piece of wood signifying a debt"), Anglo-Latin...
Before spreadsheets, people literally kept their debts on sticks. A tally was a notched piece of wood, and the clever part was brutally simple: split it lengthwise, keep one half, give the other half to the debtor, and the two matching scars proved the account was real. That’s why the word drifted from “a stick with marks” to “a record,” and then to the idea of two things matching up, like numbers or scores. It shares blood with tailor, because both descend from Latin talea, a cutting or rod — one cuts cloth, the other cuts grooves into wood. By the time English sports writers in the 1800s started talking about a team’s tally, the old stick had already become a modern scoreboard in disguise.
The Story
Before spreadsheets, people literally kept their debts on sticks. A tally was a notched piece of wood, and the clever part was brutally simple: split it lengthwise, keep one half, give the other half to the debtor, and the two matching scars proved the account was real. That’s why the word drifted from “a stick with marks” to “a record,” and then to the idea of two things matching up, like numbers or scores. It shares blood with tailor, because both descend from Latin talea, a cutting or rod — one cuts cloth, the other cuts grooves into wood. By the time English sports writers in the 1800s started talking about a team’s tally, the old stick had already become a modern scoreboard in disguise.
Modern Usage
In some Scottish usage, a disparaging term for an Italian person; also a vulgar slang term for penis via tallywhacker.
Popularized by: Regional Scottish slang and later internet slang dictionaries
Notable References
- Urban Dictionary entries
Kin & Kindred
From 'talea'·a cutting, rod, stick
Derived Terms
English words from this root