a. ˁímɛr yɔ teẓ̂áḷaˁ hin ľínhɛm ḷóutaˁ kor nóuṣaḷ ˁek ‘They said: “Please tell us why he should be killed. Maybe we can help you.”’ (CSOL II 1:56)
b. ẓ̂eḷóˁoʰ bes díˀʸho ˁážeʰ e-ṭad díˀseʰ ṣáḥeb ‘My wife told a friend of hers about it.’ (CSOL II 4:36)
c. wa-di-ṣabḥ ẓ̂áḷaˁ heʸh ˁö́mor heʸh ˁóṭibk ˁek díˀɛʰ di-béstan ‘In the morning he told him. He said: “I put some animals in your palm grove without permission.”’ (CSOL II 24:12g)
d. wa-taˁámer hes aḷ-teẓ̂ẓ̂íˁ fe tekóḷe šouḥáro taˁámer aḷ-ˀeẓ̂áḷaˁ ‘The girl would say to her: “Don’t tell about me.” And the woman would reply: “I won’t tell.”’ (CSOL II 24:6)
e. wa-hóhon tóˀo ḳóˁodk ẓ̂áḷaˁk díˀʸho bέbɛʰ ‘And when I came down to home, I told my father about this.’ (CSOL II 16:14)
“old imperative” eẓ̂ẓ̂áˁ (with assimilation *ẓ̂ḷ > ẓ̂ẓ̂)
pass. ẓ̂íľaˁ
‘To tell somebody (e-) something (complement clause)’ (a).
‘To tell somebody (e-) about something (be-)’ (b).
‘To tell about something (be-)’ (d).
‘To tell somebody (e-) about something (unexpressed)’ (c).
‘To tell somebody (direct object) about something (unexpressed)’ (e).
No fully persuasive etymology is at hand. Contra Leslau (LS 362), the Soqotri verb is obviously unrelated to Arb. ṭlˁ (IV) ‘to inform’ in view of the phonological irregularity. A more promising path of derivation (tentatively hinted at by Johnstone) is prompted by Jib. ẓ̂élaˁ ‘to originate (from)’. It suggests that the original meaning of the Soqotri verb might have been something like ‘to tell one’s origins, to relate one’s pedigree’, then broadened into ‘to telľ in general. The Jibbali verb is, in all probability, denominative from PS *ṣ̂ilaˁ- ‘rib’ (‘to grow from, to shoot off’). Note a different, presumably independent semantic derivation from the same anatomic term in Mhr. ẓ̂áwla ‘to marry outside one’s tribe’ < ‘to shoot off from one’s stem’, ‘to part from one’s kin’.