Meaning

noun the thin fibrous bark of the paper mulberry and Pipturus albidus

noun a paperlike cloth made in the South Pacific by pounding tapa bark

originFrom Spanish tapas, the plural of tapa (“appetizer, tapa; cap, lid (cover of a container)”) (from the fact that plates of tapas were originally placed on the tops of glasses of alcoholic beverages as lids), from Gothic *𐍄𐌰𐍀𐍀𐌰 (*tappa), from Proto-Germanic *tappô (“plug; tap”), from Proto-Indo-European *deh₂p- (“to lose; to sacrifice”). Doublet of tap.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0