means A crisscross structure of strips or lines forming a regular pattern of open spaces, whether in woodwork, garden trellises, or the orderly arrangement of atoms in a crystal.

from From Old French 'lattis,' a framework of laths, built on 'latte' meaning a thin strip of wood — itself likely borrowed from a Germanic root (compare modern English 'lath'). So the word began with carpenters nailing up thin slats in crosswise patterns, long before physicists borrowed the image to describe the hidden scaffolding of crystals.