Originally the past participle of an earlier verb *telt, parallel form *tilt, from Proto-Baltic *tel-, *til-, from Proto-Indo-European *tel-, *stel- (“to spread, to spread out”), whence also Latvian telpa (“space, room”). The original meaning was therefore “(that which is) spread out”, from which “(path, road) covered with intertwined, interlaced branches, logs” (a meaning still attested in folk songs) and then “bridge.” Cognates include Lithuanian ti̇̀ltas; elsewhere, the stem *tel-, *stel- led to notions like “smooth base, floor, board:” Lithuanian dialectal ti̇̀lė (“a boat's bottom plank”), Old Prussian talus (“floor”), Proto-Slavic *tьlo (“base, floor”) (Old Church Slavonic тьло (tĭlo), Russian, Ukrainian тло (tlo), Czech tla (“floor”), Polish tło (“base, background”), Upper Sorbian tło (“floor, base, bottom”)), Old Irish talam (“earth”) (< *tlə-mo-), Proto-Germanic *þiliz (“board, plank”) (Old Norse þil, þili (“plank wall”), þilja (“floor, plank”), þel (“base, floor”), Old High German dil, dilo (“plank wall, floor”), dilla (“board, floor, ship deck”), German Diele (“plank”)), Sanskrit तलम् (talam, “plain, flat surface; palm”), Ancient Greek τήλιᾱ (tḗliā, “game table, board”), Albanian tullë (“brick”), Latin tellūs (“earth”) (< *telnos), Ossetian тӕрхӕг (tærxæg, “bench”).