A flat surface things are set out on to be seen together. Also the body that governs. Both are places where matters are laid before others.
Old English bord (plank, tabletop; also shield, edge), from Proto-Germanic *burd-; the word for the flat plank things are laid on came to also name, by the 17th century, the body of people who sit around one.
A flat surface things are set out on to be seen together, and the body that meets around one — both are places where matters are laid before others rather than decided alone.