'Tapestry' traveled from Persian through Greek and French — a Silk Road word for woven art.
A heavy textile fabric with pictorial designs or patterns, woven by hand on a loom; a complex combination of interrelated things.
From Old French 'tapisserie' (tapestry work, carpeting), from 'tapisser' (to cover with tapestry), from 'tapis' (carpet, heavy cloth), from Byzantine Greek 'tapētion' (small carpet), diminutive of 'tápēs' (carpet, rug), possibly borrowed from Persian 'taftan' (to twist, to spin) or from an unidentified Mediterranean source. The word preserves a chain of cultural transmission: Persian textiles influenced Greek markets, Greek terminology entered French via Byzantium, and French craftsmanship brought the word to England. Key roots: tápēs (τάπης) (Greek
The phrase 'on the tapis' (under discussion, on the table) comes from French 'tapis' (carpet, cloth), the same word that produced 'tapestry.' In French, 'mettre sur le tapis' (to put on the carpet) meant to bring a matter up for discussion — the 'carpet' being the green baize cloth covering a meeting table. The expression entered English in the seventeenth century and remains in use in formal registers.