Blog for Languages of Storytelling at ETSU, Summer, 2011.
Monday, July 25, 2011
A different kind of "teller"
Here is the etymology of "teller"-- "bank clerk who pays or receives money," late 15c., "person who keeps accounts," from tell in its secondary sense of "count, enumerate," which is the primary sense of cognate words in many Germanic languages.
Yep. To Tell is to make an accounting. Hence: bank teller counts money, story teller recounts events. A Tally.
Tell also has come to imply discernment. "Can you tell if its going to rain?" "Dr. can you tell what is wrong with me?" "Look for the 'tell' in the poker player's face."
Hence, to tell a story is to recount events and to discern its meanings.
Yep. To Tell is to make an accounting. Hence: bank teller counts money, story teller recounts events. A Tally.
ReplyDeleteTell also has come to imply discernment. "Can you tell if its going to rain?" "Dr. can you tell what is wrong with me?" "Look for the 'tell' in the poker player's face."
Hence, to tell a story is to recount events and to discern its meanings.