c. 1300, "platform or raised floor at one end of a room or hall," from Anglo-French deis, Old French dais, dois "platform, high table," from Latin discus "disk-shaped object," also, in Medieval Latin, "table," from Greek diskos "quoit, disk, dish" (see disk (n.)). It died out in English c. 1600, was preserved in Scotland, and was revived 19c. by antiquarians.