Also 7– talith, 7 talles, 9 talit, tales. [Rabb. Heb. ṭallī·þ, with Spanish Jews talit, Ger. Jews tallis, f. ṭāla·l, to cover, shelter, akin to tsāla·l, to grow dark, whence tsēl, shade (H. Gollancz).] The garment or mantle (in modern times frequently assuming the form of a scarf) worn by Jews at prayer; formerly, and in some countries still, used in place of or in addition to the canopy at weddings, i.e., to cover the heads of bride and bridegroom.
Its religious significance is solely derived from the ‘fringes’ attached to the four corners in accordance with Numbers xv. 38 and Deut. xxii. 12.
1613. Purchas, Pilgrimage (1614), 194. They call this garment Talith. Ibid., 210. The Priest draweth his Talles (a large cloth made of haires) before his eyes, and pronounceth the blessing.
1649. Prynne, Demurrer to Jews’ Remitter, 35. Every Jew after he is past 7. years of age, shall carry a sign … in his chief garinent; that is to say in form of two Talles of yellow taffety.
1839. Beaton, trans. Jews in East, I. v. 152. Every one wore a talit.
1842. Bonar & M‘Cheyne, Mission to Jews, iv. (1843), 237. There were about thirty in the synagogue, all wearing the Tallith or shawl with fringes, and the Tephillin or phylacteries.
1886. Farrar, Hist. Interpr., iii. 126. To unite the Pallium of Japheth with the tallith of Shem.
1892. Zangwill, Childr. Ghetto, I. ii. 62. I have not the wherewithal … to make him a Talith-bag.
