The origin of the Akkadian word is unclear. It is thought to be borrowed into South Mesopotamian Middle Aramaic varieties (von Soden in AHw. 1312, but not in Kaufman 1974): JBA tālətā 'species of date palm', Mnd. tala 'young date-palm'. From there, it may have penetrated into Arabic as tāl- 'young date-palms, palm saplings', also attested in the modern dialects of Iraq. For Sab. tl ‘young palms’ see Sima 2000, 249–250 who does not make explicit his understanding of the diachrony of the Sabaic word (an Aramaism in Sabaic is not so easy to surmise). As seen already by Löw 1881, 112, the Semitic words under scrutiny come notoriously close to Sanskrit tālaḥ ‘Weinpalme’ (KEWA 498). Contra Sima’s hypercritical evaluation (2000, 249), this similarity can by no means be accidental. Mayrhofer does not hesitate to treat all Semitic forms (inlcuding Akkadian) as Indian loanwords, which is rather problematic in view of the early (OB) attestation of Akk. tālu. Note that in Mayrhofer’s view the Sanskrit word has no convincing IE etymology and may have a Dravidian origin.