Spanish Word of the Day: Mesa (table)

Over the last few weeks we have talked a lot about different food stuffs and things to do with cooking and the kitchen. When it comes to meal times, most of us like to eat sitting at a table. Table in Spanish is mesa and it comes from the Latin word mensa with the same meaning.

Mesa is a feminine noun and takes the following definite and indefinite articles:

• la mesa = the table
• las mesas = the tables
• una mesa = a table
• unas mesas = some tables

Before we can sit down to enjoy our food, somebody needs to poner la mesa (set the table). To do this we need various things including a mantel (tablecloth), platos (plates) and cubiertos (cutlery) such as cuchillos (knives), tenedores (forks), cucharas (spoons), vasos (glasses) and sal y pimienta (salt and pepper). Once the table is set and the food is ready you can call everyone to the table by saying ¡A la mesa!

Generally speaking most homes have a mesa de madera (wooden table) as their dining table. The wood used to make furniture can be of various types, with some of the most common being listed below:

• pino = pine, the most commonly used, a softwood
• nogal = walnut a hardwood which is dark in colour
• cerezo = cherry wood, medium weight, hard and resilient with a reddish tint
• roble = oak, hard, durable and long lasting
• caoba = mahogany, a durable hardwood grown in Honduras

In addition to dining, we use tables for all kinds of different things in our day to day lives.

• mesa de despacho = office table/desk
• mesa de luz / de noche= bedside table
• mesa de billar = billiard table
• mesa de operaciones = operating table
• mesa camilla = a round table with a large, heavy cloth, under which a small heater would be placed called a brasero

Did you know…?

We can also use the word mesa alongside other words to give them specific meaning, including juego de mesa (board game) and vino de mesa (table or house wine).

The word mesa is also used when talking about a committee or a board, a group of people that preside in a meeting, such as a mesa de examen (examination board) for example.

In culinary terms, buena mesa is used to describe good cooking and also the art of preparing food from a certain culture, region or country. Buena mesa italiana, for example, means good Italian style cooking.

In geography, a mesa is a plateau, a piece of land which is extensive and flat, elevated and surrounded by valleys. Other words with the same meaning are meseta and altiplano.

Spanish idioms featuring ‘mesa’: