STANDING TABLES

The word table underwent a bunch of alterations in Middle English; in those tumultuous years between the Battle of Hastings and the Renaissance, spellings such as tabel, tabil, and tabul could all be seen. In Old English, all those forms plus tabele, tablu, tæfl, tæfel, tabule, and tabula existed. The latter form is most etymologically accurate, as all of this comes from the Latin word tabula, meaning "board"- not necessarily one with legs, as that definition got applied much later, after Old English. Tabula, the same element appearing in the term tabula rasa​, officially has an uncertain etymology, and there are several theories out there. It is definitely related to an Umbrian word, so there's the chance that it might not be Indo-European, but some etymologists think that this might derive from the Proto-Indo-European reconstruction root teh, meaning "to stand", which would connect it to the Latin word for "stand", stare​.