A story, especially one that might be fictional or exaggerated.
From Old English 'talu' meaning a counting or reckoning, related to 'tally.' Originally, a tale was literally an accounting - a numbered list of items, events, or facts. Medieval storytellers would 'give an account' of events, and gradually 'tale' shifted from meaning a factual count to meaning any recounting of events, whether true or fictional.
Before 'tale' meant story, it meant the same thing as 'tally' - a careful count or accounting of facts. Medieval people didn't distinguish much between keeping accounts and telling stories; both were ways of organizing and remembering important information in a world without widespread literacy.
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