why is a table leaf called a leaf?

I don't know either. Will wait for answers with you.

Well, what else would you call it?

Why is a tree leaf called a leaf?

well....I was thinking that maybe since a leaf is an extension of the tree that maybe that's why. The extensino is a leaf of the table...therefore a leaf.... ) circular reasoning?!?!?!? LOL

look up the etymology of leaf and then guess why it came to be

http://www.word-detective.com/2008/08/14/leaves-table/

Quote...

"One of the uses to which “leaf” was put in the 15th century was to mean “a hinged part or a part attached at one edge by a hinge,” as a hinged flap on machinery, furniture or the like. For example, the parts of a “Dutch door” (also called a “stable door,” divided horizontally to allow opening the top half while the bottom remains closed) would be considered “leaves.”

By the 16th century, this sense of “leaf” was being applied to hinged sections of a table that hang down from the side but can be raised when more surface area is needed. Within a hundred years, this sense was expanded to include any movable element or addition to a table, such as the “leaves” that are inserted into the top of a table to increase its area."

I'm still working on "What came first, the chicken or the egg". Another good question would be why do they call those buttoned circular things at the end of a sleeve "cuffs", and why are the other things called sleeves?

We all could do that. Why don't you just tell us?

That would be my guess as to why....since a leaf is an outgrowth or an extension.

etymology! I couldn't think of that word and I wasn't coming up with the right questions to ask in my searches. I also LOVE LOVE LOVE the link to the word detective sight! That will be a huge help in the future.

Thanks again to everyone for their input!

The word etymology comes from two different root words-- the word etus (which is where we get the word "Eat" means to "swallow"). The word "Mol" is an ancient word meaning hard (as in difficult).

So etymology is literally translated "things that are hard to swallow".

WARNING WARNING WARNING

Do not take anything that ebrown p tells you seriously!

(I mean it, too.)

As an aside, and apropos of nothing, when I was furthering my education at a university,in a freshman English composition course we were given the assignmen to write 'the biography of a word.' I chose etymology as my subject word and garnered an A.

Don't tell me what the etymology of etymology is.

Okay, that question has been answered. Now, why does a bicycle have two wheels.

I suppose now you'll tell me what ontology and epistemology are. I've been waiting all these years..

I figure that's for improved balance. Plus, since the word mentions bi, to fit the word.

do you happen to remember the instructions for that assignment? I'm a teacher interested in creating something similar.

Etymology is NOT defined as "things hard to swallow"! Please! You were joking, right?
Etymon is word or morpheme (stem/root) from the Greek word etumon meaning "true sense," and the suffix is derived from logia meaning "study of."