Where does “telly tennis” come from?
telly tennis (English) comes from English telly, from English tell, from Middle English tellen, from Old English tellan, from Proto-West Germanic talljan, from Proto-Germanic taljaną, from Proto-Germanic talą, from Proto-Indo-European dol- — to aim, calculate, adjust, count; to reckon,...
telly tennis (English): The game of Pong, or any TV game closely based on...
Definitions
- The game of Pong, or any TV game closely based on...
Ancestry of “telly tennis”, step by step
telly tennis traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English telly
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | telly | Television; A television set; A hotel or motel |
| 2 | English | tell | To count, reckon, or enumerate; To narrate; To... |
| 3 | Middle English | tellen | to count; to tell |
| 4 | Old English | tellan | to count, calculate; to tell, narrate, recount;... |
| 5 | Proto-West Germanic | talljan | to count, to enumerate; to recount, to tell |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | taljaną | to enumerate, count; to account, recount, tell |
| 7 | Proto-Germanic | talą | speech; number |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | dol- | reckoning, calculation, fraud; calculation, fraud |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | del- | to aim, calculate, adjust, count; to reckon,... |
via English tennis
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | tennis | A sport played by two players (or four in doubles), who alternately strike the ball over a net using racquets |
| 2 | Old French | tenez | second-person plural present indicative of tenir;... |
| 3 | Old French | tenir | to possess; to have; to hold |
| 4 | Latin | teneō | to hold, have; to grasp |
| 5 | Proto-Italic | tenēō | to hold |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | ten- | to stretch, to extend |