# Etymology of two rockin' senses of the word "cover"?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-two-rockin-senses-of-the-word-cover/534279>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 30, 2010, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-two-rockin-senses-of-the-word-cover/534279 "2010-03-30T00:16:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![The\_Seventh\_Deadly\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6bbea6/32.png) [@The\_Seventh\_Deadly\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Seventh_Deadly_Finn)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2010, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-two-rockin-senses-of-the-word-cover/534279/21 "2010-03-31T01:17:31Z")

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> [@matt\_mcl](#):
>
> There are restaurants in Italy, for example, that charge a basic fee to each diner, called _pane e coperto_ (bread and cover/place setting). Wikipedia claims that 1920s speakeasies charged a figure called _couvert_ (French for cover/place setting) to guests.

This has the ring of truth. I intend to start believing that this is the origin. (All due apologies to them as think differ’nt—you might be right, but I can’t pretend **matt\_mcl** hasn’t persuaded me, cause I’m persuaded.)

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**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2010, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-two-rockin-senses-of-the-word-cover/534279/22 "2010-03-31T01:43:07Z")

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> [@matt\_mcl](#):
>
> There are restaurants in Italy, for example, that charge a basic fee to each diner, called _pane e coperto_ (bread and cover/place setting). Wikipedia claims that 1920s speakeasies charged a figure called _couvert_ (French for cover/place setting) to guests.

> [@The\_Seventh\_Deadly\_Finn](#):
>
> This has the ring of truth. I intend to start believing that this is the origin. (All due apologies to them as think differ’nt—you might be right, but I can’t pretend **matt\_mcl** hasn’t persuaded me, cause I’m persuaded.)

The only thing I would question about this theory is a lack of historic cites. The Wikipedia cite is of little use.

If I understood \*\*matt\_mcl \*\*correctly, there are restaurants in Italy today that charge something extra. Can you give me any information that this was true of Italian restaurants in the 1900-1930 period?

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