must it be an actual table?

galoisien
Thu, 27 Dec 2007 14:00:06 +0000

table (n.)
c.1175, “board, slab, plate,” from O.Fr. table “board, plank, writing table, picture” (11c.), and late O.E. tabele, from W.Gmc. *tabal (cf. O.H.G. zabel, Ger. Tafel), both from L. tabula “a board, plank, table,” originally “small flat slab or piece” usually for inscriptions or for games, of uncertain origin, related to Umbrian tafle “on the board.” The sense of “piece of furniture with the flat top and legs” first recorded c.1300 (the usual L. word for this was mensa; O.E. writers used bord). The meaning “arrangement of numbers or other figures for convenience” is recorded from c.1386 (e.g. table of contents, 1460).

hint hint