table English · revision 3310

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=before 899 (Alfred's Bede)|origins=la tabula}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈteɪ.bəl/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|table]], in part [[bor|fro|table|t=board, panel; writing table; food]] and in part [[inh|ang|tabele]], earlier tabule,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MW Collegiate) both from [[la|tabula|t=a board, plank; writing tablet; list]],^(Etymonline)^(AHD 2000)^(SOED 2002) a word of uncertain origin,^(Etymonline)^(Klein 1966)^(Barnhart 1988) related to Umbrian tafle “on the board”.^(Etymonline)^(Klein 1966) The Old English word came through Germanic *tabal, the source also of Dutch [[m|nl|tafel]] and German [[m|de|Tafel]].^(Etymonline) The verb is from the noun.^(Barnhart 1988)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Old English tabule, a flat board or slab: before 899, in Alfred's translation of Bede,^(Barnhart 1988) or before 900 in the OED.^(OED 1989) The OED's next sense, a tablet for an inscription, as the stone tablets of the Law, is from about 1050.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Word Origins notes that the table “did not grow legs” until about 1300,^(Cresswell 2021) and the piece of furniture is first recorded probably before 1300, in ''Kyng Alisaunder'', which also has the sense “an arrangement of numbers for reference”.^(Barnhart 1988) One early meaning was a gaming board, and the plural ''tables'' was used for backgammon because the board has two folding halves; this died out by the mid-18th century but survives in ''turn the tables'', from the practice of turning the board round between games.^(Cresswell 2021)^(Hoad 1986) Early writers also used ''table'' for “a picture”, after Latin tabula.^(Trench 1859)^(OED 1989) The verb meant “to enter in a list” about 1450 and “to provide with meals” in 1457–58.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989) In parliament ''table'' meant “to lay on the table for discussion”, from 1718,^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) but in American use “to postpone indefinitely”, from 1849^(Barnhart 1988) or 1866.^(Etymonline) ''Tablecloth'' is from 1467.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * before 899 – a board, slab.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1050 – a tablet for an inscription.^(OED 1989)

+ * before 1300 – a piece of furniture; a table of figures.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1450 – verb, to list.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1467 – ''tablecloth''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 17th century – ''turn the tables''.^(Cresswell 2021)

+ * 1718 – to lay before parliament.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1849 – to postpone, in American use.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A piece of [[furniture]] with a flat top on legs.^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)

+ # The people seated at a table.^(AHD)

+ # Food provided; fare: ''a good table''.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # An orderly arrangement of data in rows and columns.^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ # A flat slab or [[tablet]], as for an inscription.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+ # A [[plateau]] or tableland.^(AHD)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # ''(British)'' To present for discussion.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+ # ''(US)'' To postpone discussion of.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # To enter in a table; to [[tabulate]].^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[tableless]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[tabulate]]

+ * [[tablet]]

+ * [[tableau]]

+ * [[tabular]]

+ * [[tableland]]

+ * [[tabloid]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}