told

Middle English tellen, "speak, talk, say; count, reckon," from Old English tellan "reckon, calculate, number, compute; consider, think, esteem, account" (past tense tealde, past participle teald), from Proto-Germanic *taljan "mention in order" (source also of Old Saxon tellian "tell," Old Norse telja "to count, number; to tell, say," Old Frisian tella "to count; to tell," Middle Dutch and Dutch tellen, Old Saxon talon "to count, reckon," Danish tale "to speak," Old High German zalon, German zählen "to count, reckon"), according to Watkins from PIE root *del- (2) "to count, reckon" (see tale).

The meaning "narrate, announce, relate" in English is from c. 1000; that of "make known by speech or writing, announce" is from early 12c. The meaning "discern so as to be able to say" is from late 14c. The sense of "reveal or disclose" is from c. 1400. The meaning "order (someone to do something)" is from 1590s.

In intransitive use, c. 1300 as "give an account;" 1530s as " tell tales, act as an informer, 'peach;' " 1650s as "talk, chat, gossip." To hear tell "hear reported" is from c. 1200. To tell off is from 1804 as "count off;" to tell (someone) off "reprimand" is from 1919, from the "speak" sense of the word.

The older "counting" sense is preserved in teller and phrases such as tell time "count the hours," all told "when all are counted." For sense evolution, compare French conter "to count," raconter "to recount;" Italian contare, Spanish contar "to count, recount, narrate;" German zählen "to count," erzählen "to recount, narrate." Klein also compares Hebrew saphar "he counted," sipper "he told."