The Pali Text Society's Pali-English dictionary
Tāla,[Sk.tāla,cp.Gr.ta_lis & thleqάw (be green,sprout up) Lat.talea shoot,sprout] 1.the palmyra tree (fan palm),Borassus flabelliformis; freq.in comparisons & similes M.I,187; J.I,202 (°vana),273 (°matta as tall as a palm):VvA.162; PvA.100 (chinnamūlo viya tālo).-- 2.a strip,stripe,streak J.V,372 (=raji).
--aṭṭhika a kernel of the palm fruit DhA.II,53,cp.60 (°aṭṭhi-khaṇḍa); --kanda a bulbous plant J.IV,46 (=kalamba); --kkhandha the trunk of a palm J.IV,351; VvA.227 (°parimāṇā mukhatuṇḍā:beaks of vultures in Niraya); PvA.56; --cchidda see tāḷa°; --taruṇa a young shoot of the p.Vin.I,189; --pakka palm fruit It.84; --paṇṇa a palm-leaf DhA.I,391; II,249; III,328; Bdhd 62; also used as a fan (tālapattehi kata-maṇḍalavījanī VvA.147) Vv 3343 (Hardy for °vaṇṭha of Goon.ed.p.30); VvA.147 (v.l.°vaṇṭa q.v.); Nd2 562 (+vidhūpana); --patta a palm-leaf Vin.I,189; VvA.147; --miñja the pith of a p.J.IV,402; --vaṇṭa [Sk.tālavṛṇta] a fan Vin.II,130 (+vidhūpana),137; J.I,265; VvA.44,cp.°paṇṇa; --vatthu (more correct tālâvatthu=tāla-avatthu) in tālâvatthukata a palm rendered groundless,i.e.uprooted; freq.as simile to denote complete destruction or removal (of passions,faults,etc.).Nearly always in formula pahīna ucchinna-mūla t° anabhāvaṃ-kata “given up,with roots cut out,like a palm with its base destroyed,rendered unable to sprout again” (Kern,Toev.II.88:as een wijnpalm die niet meer geschiķt is om weêr uit te schieten).This phrase was misunderstood in BSk.:M Vastu III,360 has kālavastuṃ.-- The readings vary:tālāvatthu e.g.at M.I,370; S.I,69; IV,84; A.I,135; II,38; J.V,267; tālav° S.III,10; V,327; Th.2,478 (ThA.286:tālassa chindita‹-› --ṭṭhāna-sadisa); Nd2 freq.(see under pahīna); tālāvatthukatā at Vin.III,3.-- In other combn tālāvatthu bhavati (to be pulled out by the roots & thrown away) J.V,267 (=chinnamūla-tālo viya niraye nibbattanti p.273),cp.M.I,250; --vāra “palm-time” (?) or is it tāḷa° (gong-turn?) DhA.II,49 (note:from tala-pratiṣṭhāyāṃ?).(Page 299)
Concise Pali-English Dictionary by A.P. Buddhadatta Mahathera
(m.)
the palmyra tree.