'Talmudic' originates from French, specifically the word 'talmudique', ultimately from Hebrew 'Talmūdh', where the Semitic root 'lmd' meant 'to learn/teach'.

'Talmūdh' in Hebrew passed into Medieval Latin as 'Talmudus', then into French as 'talmudique', and eventually became the modern English word 'Talmudic'.

Initially, it meant 'pertaining to the Talmud and its scholarship', but over time it also developed the extended sense of 'overly subtle, hairsplitting, or obscure in reasoning'.