late 13c., "wine shop," later "public house" (mid-15c.), from Old French taverne (mid-13c.) "shed made of boards, booth, stall," also "tavern, inn," from Latin taberna "shop, inn, tavern," originally "hut, shed, rude dwelling," possibly [Klein] by dissimilation from *traberna, from trabs (genitive trabis) "beam, timber," from PIE *treb- "dwelling" (cognates: Lithuanian troba "a building," Old Welsh treb "house, dwelling," Welsh tref "a dwelling," Irish treb "residence," Old English ðorp "village, hamlet, farm, estate").