English
teller
Teller comes from Middle English tellere ‘one who counts or enumerates’.
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500tellere‘one who counts or enumerates’
- Englishearliest quotation 2007teller
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500tellere‘one who counts or enumerates’
- Englishearliest quotation 2007teller
Earliest quotation: 2007, Joseph T. Wells, Corporate Fraud Handbook: Prevention and Detection: “In the case discussed above, for example, the employee…”
Formed from tell + -er
Proto-Germanic *talō ‘narration, speech; number, calculation’
Proto-Germanic *taljaną ‘to enumerate, count; to recount, tell’
Proto-West Germanic *talljan ‘to count; to recount, tell’
Old English tellan ‘to count, calculate; to tell, narrate’
Middle English tellen ‘to count, tell’
English tell
Every English word from Middle English tellere
Today it means
noun A person who tells stories.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle English tellere / teller