скатерть

Three hypotheses exist:

1. From Proto-Slavic *dъskatьrtь. By surface analysis, доска́ (doská, “board, plank”) +‎ тере́ть (terétʹ, “to rub”). Compare with ру́котерть (rúkotertʹ, “towel”) as рука́ (ruká, “hand, arm”) +‎ тере́ть (terétʹ, “to rub”), Latin manutergium (“hand towel”) as manus (“hand”) +‎ tergeō (“to rub, wipe, clean”) +‎ -ium.
2. From Proto-Slavic *ska + Proto-Slavic *tьrtь, thus making it cognate with скать (skatʹ).
3. From German Schetter (also written Schechter), a regional term for a rigid loincloth.

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ска́терть • (skátertʹ) f inan (genitive ска́терти, nominative plural ска́терти, genitive plural скатерте́й, relational adjective ска́тертный, diminutive скатёрка or скатёрочка)

1. tablecloth (a cloth used to cover and protect a table, especially for a dining table)

• ска́тертью доро́га (skátertʹju doróga)
• ска́терть-самобра́нка (skátertʹ-samobránka)

• → Yakut: ыскаатар (ıskaatar)

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “скатерть”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in Beziehung auf Abstammung und Begriffsbildung, Konrad Schwenck, p. 563