Meaning

verb arrange or enter in tabular form

verb shape or cut with a flat surface

originBack-formation from translingual Tabulata (“an extinct order of corals”) on the basis of -ate (adjective-forming suffix, corresponding to Latin -ātus (forming participles), itself seen in Tabulata), from Latin tabulāta, the nominative neuter plural of tabulātus (“floored”). See further at etymology 1. The order is so named because the corals are characterized by their well-developed horizontal…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0