difficulty understanding wavetable

[technomonster]

i think i am now getting confused.

whats the definition of wavetable .

i guess its diffrent from sampled waveforms, although i have heard and read the term wavetable used for both.

now so many softsynth VAs give you up to 30-50 different waveforms their oscillators can choose to do., unlike the older usual sine, square, saw from the older synths.

in what way is wavetable different from the new oscillator generated 30 or so waveforms.

i am asking because because i have just heard the Z3ta+ demo, which boasts wavetable synthesis, and of course the spunky lookin TI has them.