Furniture History

The word furniture comes from the French fourniture, which means equipment. In most other European languages, however, the corresponding word (German Möbel; French meuble; Spanish mueble; Italian mobile) is derived from the Latin adjective mobilis, meaning movable. The continental terms describe the intrinsic character of furniture better than the English word. To be furniture, it must be movable. Since furniture presupposes some degree of residential permanency, however, it is understandable that no independent furniture types seem to have been developed among the Melanesians or the Inuit in Greenland or the Mongolian nomads in Asia.

In general, furniture produced in the past 5,000 years has not undergone innovative development in any functional sense. An Egyptian folding stool dating from about 1500 bc fulfills the same functional requirements and possesses the same basic features as a modern one. Only in the mid-20th century, with entirely new, synthetic materials such as plastic and completely new fabrication techniques such as casting, have there been signs of a radical revision of the concept of furniture.