Where does “tabletop” come from?
Tabletop is a compound of table and top, where table comes from Middle English tabil, Old French table, and Latin tabula, meaning a flat board or plank.
tabletop (English): the flat, horizontal surface of a table; A fixed...
Definitions
- the flat, horizontal surface of a table; A fixed...
Ancestry of “tabletop”, step by step
tabletop traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English top
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | top | The highest or uppermost part of something; A... |
| 2 | Middle English | top | The summit or top of something, especially a... |
| 3 | Old English | topp | top, summit (of something) |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | *topp | top, summit, crest |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | tuppaz | tuft, plait; top, summit |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | dumb- | tail, rod, staff, pole, penis; tail, rod, staff,... |