Scaccarium – A chequered cloth resembling a chess-board which covered the table in the exchequer, and on which, when certain of the king’s accounts were made up, the sums were marked and scored with counters
The Medieval counting table was covered in a checkered cloth used for calculating revenues and taxes. The Exchequer was a government department responsible for financial matters, and its name reflects the visual appearance of the counting table.
The Exchequer gets its name from a large table, often 10 feet by 5 feet, covered with a checkered cloth. This cloth, resembling a chessboard with squares for pounds, shillings, and pence, was used with counters to track financial transactions.
The institution and its name are thought to have originated during the Norman period in England.
The term evolved from the Latin “scaccarium” to the French “échiquier” and finally to the English “exchequer”.