What does the ‘board’ mean in room and board? It normally means a slightly unappetising breakfast buffet – but why does board mean food or meal in this context?
Well it’s to do with the origins of domestic furniture in Europe, way back in what us professional historians like to call ‘The Dark Ages’*
Before we had tables with legs and strictly defined identities (dining room table, dressing table, ping-pong table), it was common to use mobile planks of wood (‘boards’) to serve as surfaces on which to put things. When people ate a meal, they would pick up a handy plank and lay it across their knees to eat from. The reference to a board, when the table became more established, came to refer to the meal itself.
This is also where ‘cupboard’ comes from – it’s the plank on which we keep our cups.
Awesome horizontal surfaces fact!
* Note: this is the most historically incorrect term it is possible to use. Kind of like the historical version of ‘ironic’ racism. Ie not funny, and I’m somewhat ashamed of myself.
Awesome (etymological) Facts 