A count or score, or the act of counting or recording items systematically. Can also mean to correspond or match with something else.
From Medieval Latin 'tallia', meaning 'a cutting' or 'notch', referring to the ancient practice of making notches on a stick to keep count. This evolved through Old French 'taille' into Middle English, maintaining its counting significance while adding the meaning of correspondence.
The humble tally stick was once so trusted that the English Exchequer used wooden tally sticks as official receipts for tax payments until 1826! The burning of obsolete tally sticks in 1834 accidentally caused the fire that destroyed most of the Palace of Westminster, proving that even accounting methods can be historically explosive.
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