Etymology

tarpaulin

T1A1R1P3A1U1L1I1N1

Today it means: A heavy, waterproof sheet of material, often cloth or plastic sheet, used as a cover or blanket (often as weatherproofing, or to keep loose cargo from blowing off a lorry). Full definition →

English pall ← Middle English pal ← Old English pæl
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*dóru
  2. Proto-Germanic*terwą
  3. Old Englishteoru
  4. Middle Englishter
  5. Englishtar
  6. Proto-Indo-European*pel-
  7. Latinpallium
  8. Old Frenchpaile
  9. Old Englishpæl
  10. Middle Englishpal
  11. Englishpall
  12. English todaytarpaulin

From tar + pall (“heavy canvas”) + -ing. The sailor sense reflects that sailors of centuries past often wore garments made of tarred cloth (for weatherproofing).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.