A napkin, serviette or face towelette is a square of cloth or paper tissue used at the table for wiping the mouth and fingers while eating. It is also sometimes used as a bib by tucking it into a shirt collar. It is usually small and folded, sometimes in intricate designs and shapes.

Etymology and terminology

The term 'napkin' dates from the 14th century, in the sense of a piece of cloth or paper used at mealtimes to wipe the lips or fingers and to protect clothing. The word derives from the

Late Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman Conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English pe ...

''nappekin'', from

Old French Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th

nappe In geology, a nappe or thrust sheet is a large sheetlike body of rock that has been moved more than or above a thrust fault from its original position. Nappes form in compressional tectonic settings like continental collision zones or on the ...

'' (tablecloth, from Latin ''wikt:mappa#Latin, mappa''), with the suffix '':wikt:-kin#English, -kin''. A 'napkin' can also refer to a small cloth or towel, such as a handkerchief in dialectal British, or a kerchief in Scotland. 'Napkin' may also be short for "

sanitary napkin A menstrual pad is an absorbent item worn in the underwear when menstruating, bleeding after giving birth, recovering from gynecologic surgery, experiencing a miscarriage or abortion, or in any other situation where it is necessary to absorb ...

Description

Conventionally, the napkin is folded and placed to the left of the place setting, outside the outermost fork. In a restaurant setting or a

caterer Catering is the business of providing food services at a remote site or a site such as a hotel, hospital, pub, aircraft, cruise ship, park, festival, filming location or film studio. History of catering The earliest account of major service ...

's hall, it may be folded into more elaborate shapes and displayed on the empty plate. Origami techniques can be used to create a three-dimensional design. A napkin may also be held together in a bundle with cutlery by a

napkin ring The napkin ring, occasionally called a Christening bangle, was originally used to identify the napkins of a household between weekly wash days. The figural napkin ring is an American specialty in which the simple napkin ring is part of a small f ...

. Alternatively, paper napkins may be contained within a

napkin holder A napkin holder is a tool, device used to hold napkins. A napkin holder can be made from virtually any solid material and is built so that the napkins do not slip from its hold, either by way of sandwiching them between two surfaces, or simply en ...

History

Summaries of napkin history often say that the

ancient Greeks Ancient Greece () was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity (), that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically re ...

used bread to wipe their hands. This is suggested by a passage in one of

Alciphron Alciphron () was an ancient Greek sophist, and the most eminent among the Greek epistolographers. Regarding his life or the age in which he lived we possess no direct information whatsoever. Works We possess under the name of Alciphron 116 fict ...

's letters (3:44), and some remarks by the sausage seller in

Aristophanes Aristophanes (; ; ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek Ancient Greek comedy, comic playwright from Classical Athens, Athens. He wrote in total forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete today. The majority of his surviving play ...

' play, ''

The Knights ''The Knights'' ( ''Hippeîs''; Attic: ) was the fourth play written by Aristophanes, who is considered the master of Old Comedy. The play is a satire on the social and political life of classical Athens during the Peloponnesian War, and in thi ...

''. The bread in both texts is referred to as ''apomagdalia'' which simply means bread from inside the crust known as ''the crumb'' and not special "napkin bread". Napkins were also used in

ancient Roman In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

times. One of the earliest references to table napkins in English dates to 1384–85.

Paper napkins

The use of paper napkins is documented in

ancient China The history of China spans several millennia across a wide geographical area. Each region now considered part of the Chinese world has experienced periods of unity, fracture, prosperity, and strife. Chinese civilization first emerged in the Y ...

, where paper was invented in the 2nd century BC. Paper napkins were known as ''chih pha'', folded in squares, and used for the serving of

tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of south-western China and nor ...

. Textual evidence of paper napkins appears in a description of the possessions of the Yu family, from the city of

Hangzhou Hangzhou, , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ; formerly romanized as Hangchow is a sub-provincial city in East China and the capital of Zhejiang province. With a population of 13 million, the municipality comprises ten districts, two counti ...

. Paper napkins were first imported to the US in the late 1800s but did not gain widespread acceptance until 1948, when

Emily Post Emily Post ( Price; October 27, 1872 – September 25, 1960) was an American author, novelist, and socialite famous for writing about etiquette. Early life and education Post was born Emily Bruce Price in Baltimore, Maryland, possibly in Octob ...

asserted, "It’s far better form to use paper napkins than linen napkins that were used at breakfast."

Leonardo Da Vinci

It has been claimed that

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 - 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested o ...

invented the napkin in 1491. According to this claim, the Duke of Milan,

Ludovico Sforza Ludovico Maria Sforza (; 27 July 1452 – 27 May 1508), also known as Ludovico il Moro (; 'the Moor'), and called the "arbiter of Italy" by historian Francesco Guicciardini,

, used to tie up live rabbits decorated with ribbons to the guest’s chairs so they could wipe their hands on the animal’s back. Leonardo found this inappropriate, and presented a cloth for each guest. The myth stems from ''Leonardo's Kitchen Notebooks'' (1987), by

Jonathan Routh Jonathan Routh, born John Reginald Surdeval Routh,Dennis Barker"Jonathan Routh: Television presenter who brought Candid Camera to Britain" ''The Guardian'', 9 June 2008. (24 November 1927 – 4 June 2008) co-starred in the British version of th ...

and Shelagh Routh, a prank book published as an

April Fools’ Day April Fools' Day or April Fool's Day (rarely called All Fools' Day) is an annual custom on the 1st of April consisting of practical jokes, hoaxes, and pranks. Jokesters often expose their actions by shouting "April Fool " at the recipient. Mas ...

joke, that claims a long lost Codex Romanoff was found in 1481, which never really existed.

References

External links

{{Authority control Serving and dining Linens Paper products