From: user5108@newsgrouper.org.invalid   
      
   HenHanna@NewsGrouper  posted:   
      
   >   
   > >>>  Thanks Hen. I have doubts that tall came by that unusual route.   
   > I think it was always related to tower, perhaps a dialect sound/spelling   
   change but not semantic change.   
   > A star or cloud might be high, but a tower was tall, because it was   
   constructed of (straight) sticks.   
   > And stick has meaning of both a pole and adhesive, because it stemmed from   
   jabbing a stick into the ground to support a structure.   
   > There's a bunch of words that fit the concept of stick-built structure   
   (steeple, teepee, stable, staple, stall, stand, staff...).   
   > Some are from PIE *steup or *steb or *stel. I think tall came from that   
   place, and by 1500 was used in English, but wasn't rooted in tal or getæl but   
   in twr or tur.   
   >   
   >   
   > _________________________   
   >   
   >       I just remembered something...   
   >   
   >       WHen I was a teenager...  (living in Calif.)   
   >   
   >       I just assumed that   
   >                             Palos  Verdes  meant  Green Hills   
   >                       or  (great views)  Vista of the Green (landscape)   
   >   
   >   
   >            So I was  surprised to learn that   
   >                 it meant  Green Sticks.   
   >   
   >            and  (shortly after)   was relieved to learn that it means (tall)   
   Green Trees.   
   >   
   >   
   >   
   >   
   >   
   > The name "Palos Verdes" comes from the Spanish phrase meaning "green   
   sticks" or "green trees".   
   >   
   > It originated from the Mexican land grant called Rancho de Los Palos Verdes   
   granted in the early 1800s in what is now the Palos Verdes Peninsula area of   
   California.   
   >   
   > The name likely referred to the lush willow trees or green timber growing in   
   the canyons of the region.   
   >   
   > The phrase "Palos Verdes" was used to describe the landscape’s verdant   
   vegetation, although early photos show the hills to have been mostly barren.   
   The name has stuck and now applies broadly to the peninsula and surrounding   
   communities.   
      
   Thanks Hen, that is great. I recall 'pale' being a word for a stick or post,   
   probably related to 'impale'.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)