An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Zahl

by Friedrich Kluge

Zahl, feminine, ‘number, figure, cipher,’ from Middle High German zal, feminine, ‘number, crowd, troop, narrative, speech,’ Old High German zala, feminine, ‘number’; corresponding to Dutch taal, ‘speech,’ Anglo-Saxon talu, English tale. Allied to zahlen, verb, ‘to count out, pay,’ from Middle High German zaln, Old High German zalôn, ‘to count, reckon, compute’ (Old Saxon talôn), and zählen, verb, ‘to number, count,’ from Middle High German zęln, Old High German zęllen (from *zaljan), weak verb, ‘to count, reckon, enumerate, narrate, inform, say.’ Compare Dutch tellen, ‘to count, reckon, have regard to,’ Anglo-Saxon tęllan, English to tell. From the originally strong verbal root tal, Gothic talzjan, ‘to instruct,’ is also derived. In non-Teutonic there is no certain trace of a root dal, ‘to enumerate.’ See Zoll.