Table (furniture)

Common design elements include: The word table is derived from Old English tabele, derived from the Latin word tabula ('a board, plank, flat top piece'), which replaced the Old English bord;[3] its current spelling reflects the influence of the French table.

The Chinese also created very early tables in order to pursue the arts of writing and painting, as did people in Mesopotamia, where various metals were used.

Tables were made of marble or wood and metal (typically bronze or silver alloys), sometimes with richly ornate legs.

In the Eastern Roman Empire, tables were made of metal or wood, usually with four feet and frequently linked by x-shaped stretchers.

[7] In western Europe, although there was variety of form — the circular, semicircular, oval and oblong were all in use — tables appear to have been portable and supported upon trestles fixed or folding, which were cleared out of the way at the end of a meal.

The custom of serving dinner at several small tables, which is often supposed to be a modern refinement, was followed in the French châteaux, and probably also in the English castles, as early as the 13th century.

Tables come in a wide variety of materials, shapes, and heights dependent upon their origin, style, intended use and cost.