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table

Etymology and origin of the French word table

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 1050, Vie de saint Alexis
Inherited from
Latin tabula via Old French
Ultimate origin
Latin (tabula)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin tabula
French table

Pronunciation

Forms

table f (plural tables)[1] Tabla (1050), table (about 1150); also the more evolved forms taule, tauble.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French table, inherited from Latin tabula (“plank; writing tablet; table”), a word of uncertain origin, probably borrowed.[2][3][5][6][1] Latin “tabula” meant a board, especially for writing, a public notice board for laws and lists, a will, a votive tablet, a gaming board and a bench made of planks; in the popular Latin of Gaul and Italy it replaced the classical word for “table”, Latin mēnsa, which survives in Spanish mesa and Romanian masă and in French only in the carpentry term moise.[3][5][7] French “table” is a doublet of the more popular tôle and taule.[1][4]

Some uses come from ancient or Church Latin: the Twelve Tables, the tables of the Law, and “table rase” from the scholastic “tabula rasa”, going back to Aristotle.[5][8]

Cognate with Italian tavola, Occitan taula, Catalan taula, Spanish tabla and Portuguese tabua.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as tabla about 1050 in the Vie de saint Alexis, meaning a flat surface on legs for food, Wace (about 1150) has as tables erent ja asiz “they were already seated at the tables”.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

At first it named boards set on trestles for the dishes, mettre les tables was said even of cloths laid on the grass.[3] La Roünde Table of King Arthur's knights is in Wace's Brut (1155), and table ronde was later a kind of tournament (1279) and, today, a discussion.[2][3] By metonymy table meant the meal and the food (1225–1230, après table), whence tenir bonne table (about 1380), tenir table ouverte (1606) and table d'hôte (1627).[2]

The writing tablet of Latin lives on in tables de la Loi, table de multiplication, table des matières and table rase.[5][7] Se mettre à table “to confess” dates from 1845.[3]

Timeline

  • 1050 – Tabla in the Vie de saint Alexis.[2]
  • c. 1150 – Table in Wace.[2]
  • 1155 – La Roünde Table in Wace's Brut.[2]
  • 1225–1230 – Après table “after the meal”, in Guillaume de Lorris.[2]
  • c. 1380 – Tenir bonne table.[2]
  • 1606 – Tenir table ouverte, in Nicot.[2]
  • 1627 – Table d'hôte.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A table: mettre la table, table de nuit.[7]
  2. The meal, the food served: se mettre à table, aimer la table; the people at a table.[2][7]
  3. A flat slab or surface: table de cuisson, table d'harmonie.[9][3]
  4. A tablet or list of data arranged in order: table de multiplication, table des matières, les tables de la Loi.[5][7]
  5. Table ronde: a round-table discussion, faire table rase: to make a clean sweep.[3][5]
  6. (slang) Se mettre à table: to confess, squeal.[3]

Word family

  • attabler
  • tabler
  • tablée
  • tablette
  • tablier
  • tableau
  • tabulaire
  • tabulation
  • tôle
  • taule
  • Latin tabula

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ a b c d e f Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 13/1, 14a
  7. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  9. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Table.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/table. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

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