talion

From Middle French talion, from Latin talis (“such”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈtalɪən/

talion (uncountable)

1. Retaliation; retribution.
   • 1973, Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow:

     Simple talion may be fine for wartime, but politics between wars demands symmetry and a more elegant idea of justice, even to the point of masquerading, a bit decadently, as mercy.

• Latino, Latino-, Natoli, latino, lation

talion

1. accusative singular of talio

talion m (uncountable)

1. retaliation

• “talion” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

First known attestation in 1395[1], borrowed from Latin tāliō.

talion f (plural talions)

1. punishment consisting of the offender having done to him or her what he or she has done to the victim

• English: talion (borrowed)
• French: talion

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (talion, supplement)