tavola Italian · revision 39268

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=early 12th century, Pisan ship account (as taula)|origins=la tabula}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈta.vo.la/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''tavola''' ''f'' (plural tavole, diminutive tavolèlla or tavolétta or tavolettina or tavolina, augmentative tavolóna, pejorative tavolàccia or tavolùccia)^(Wiktionary)

+ The earliest record has the form [[roa-oit|taula]], which is used by Guittone d'Arezzo.^(DELI 1999)^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)^(Prati 1951|980) Old and dialect forms listed by the GDLI include ''tabla'', ''tàbola'', ''tàola'' and ''tòla''.^(GDLI) The dialect forms [[vec|tola]] (Venice, Emilia) and ''toa'' (Genoa) mean a table or a cobbler's bench.^(REW 1935)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|la|tabula|t=board, plank]].^(DELI 1999)^(Wiktionary) Most of its other meanings, many of them already Latin, grew out of that basic sense.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) The same word is [[fr|table]] (the source of [[m|en|table]]), [[oc|taula]], [[ca|taula]], [[es|tabla]] and [[pt|tábua]]; it was borrowed early by the Germanic languages: [[goh|zabel]] and [[m|goh|tavala]], whence [[de|Tafel]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(REW 1935) Wiktionary calls the learned [[tabula]] and the later [[tavolo]] doublets of it.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ The Latin word has only one sure cognate, [[xum|tafle]], a form of an Umbrian word for an implement used to carry the sacrificial fire.^(Nocentini 2010)^(de Vaan 2008) De Vaan reconstructs [[itc-pro|*taflā-]] and, following Southern, suggests a root without the initial s- meaning “stand”, the one in [[la|stō|t=to stand]], with an instrumental suffix: the board would be “that which stands”; he calls this uncertain.^(de Vaan 2008) Nocentini gives the same explanation, from a variant [[ine-pro|*steh₂-|alt=*stā-|t=to stand]] without the s-.^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The earliest record is the form ''taula'' in a Pisan account of a ship's expenses from the early 12th century, in the sense of a long, thin wooden board.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)^(GDLI) The form ''tavola'' is used by Boccaccio (1348–1353), who also has the plural for a floor of boards.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Most senses go back to the 13th and 14th centuries: a slab of marble (1306), the table at which meals are eaten (late 13th century, ''Novellino''), the piece of furniture in general (14th century), and a painting on a wooden panel, especially an altarpiece (before 1363, Villani).^(DELI 1999)^(DEI) Old Italian also used the word for a banker's counter (Boccaccio) and for the board of a game, ''giocare a tavole'' (''Novellino'').^(DEI)^(Prati 1951|980) ''Tavola'' could also mean the food itself, as in ''la buona tavola'', good cooking.^(GRADIT 2003)^(DEI)

+

+ Later senses include a workbench or flat tool (1561), a plate of illustrations in a book (before 1566), an index or table of contents (16th century), the belly of a violin (before 1647), a table of figures (1891), and a group of diners (1922).^(DELI 1999)^(DEI) As a land measure, Medieval Latin ''tabula'' is recorded at Parma and Reggio in 878, and Italian ''tavola'' by Pacioli in 1494.^(DEI|3733)^(DELI 1999)

+

+ [[tavolo]] is a later word: it was first resisted as a needless double of ''tavola'' and seems to be an adaptation of the Milanese or Venetian form;^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010) Nocentini dates it to 1812.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010) The ''tavola rotonda'' of the Arthurian romances goes back to French: the first record of the Round Table is in Wace's ''Roman de Brut'', in the mid-12th century, and the modern round-table discussion follows English ''round table'' (1889).^(DELI 1999) Outside Tuscany it is now the usual word for the piece of furniture.^(Nocentini 2010) The word was borrowed as [[ar|طاولة|tr=ṭāwila|t=table]], and through Ottoman it gave [[tr|tavla|t=backgammon]], whence [[el|τάβλι|tr=távli]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Early 12th century – ''Taula'' “board” appears in a Pisan account of ship expenses.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Late 13th century – The sense “dining table” appears in the ''Novellino''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1306 – Giordano da Pisa mentions two ''tavole'' of marble.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1348–1353 – Boccaccio uses the form ''tavola''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1363 – Villani uses the word for a painted panel.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1494 – Pacioli uses it for a land measure.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1566 – Ruscelli uses it for a plate in a book.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1812 – ''Tavolo'' is recorded.^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * 1922 – The sense “the diners at a table” is recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|board]] or [[m|en|plank]]: a long, flat piece of wood of little thickness: ''Ha inchiodato due tavole sulla finestra rotta.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # A flat slab or sheet of another material: ''una tavola di vetro''.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+ # A [[m|en|table]], especially the one at which meals are eaten: ''La cena è pronta, venite a tavola!''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # The food served, cooking: ''apprezzare la buona tavola''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # The people sitting at a table.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # A board or flat implement for a particular task: ''tavola da stiro'', an ironing board.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(art)'' A wooden panel prepared for painting, and a painting on such a panel: ''una tavola di Giotto''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # A full-page [[m|en|illustration]] in a book; a table of figures or data: ''tavola pitagorica'', the multiplication table.^(DELI 1999)^(Wiktionary)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[tavolo]]

+ * [[tavoletta]]

+ * [[tavolino]]

+ * [[tavolata]]

+ * [[tavolato]]

+ * [[tavoliere]]

+ * [[tavolozza]]

+ * [[tavolaccio]]

+ * [[intavolare]]

+ * [[capotavola]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[tabella]]

+ * [[tabulato]]

+ * [[tabula]]

+ * [[fr|table]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Common phrases include ''mettere le carte in tavola'', to lay one's cards on the table, ''tavola rotonda'', a round-table discussion, ''tavola calda'', a snack bar, and ''calcare le tavole del palcoscenico'', to tread the boards.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011) Where the piece of furniture is meant, ''tavolo'' is more common outside Tuscany, while ''tavola'' is used above all for the table laid for a meal.^(Nocentini 2010)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}