The word zarf means “a metal cupholder,” but a Scrabble enthusiast says other players always challenge his use of that word. He wants to know its origin. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Zarf Origin”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hi, this is Jimmy Alford.
Where are you calling us from?
Denton, Texas.
Welcome to the program, Jimmy.
I’m a big Scrabble freak. I’ve been playing it nearly all my life, and one of the words that I’ve always used to get out of a particular situation is zarf, Z-A-R-F. And the only place I’ve ever seen it is in Scrabble. And I know the meaning of it. It’s supposed to be a metal cup holder, but it just doesn’t sound like English to me. I don’t know where the word comes from, and that’s why I called in about it.
Zarf. Yeah, it sounds almost more like something you’d see in a comic book when somebody hits somebody, you know, punches them out. Zarf!
Absolutely. Z-A-R-F, right?
Yes, Z-A-R-F. The only time I’ve ever used it is on the Scrabble board. And really, I mean, it’s a good strategy to use it. I’m kind of a strategic player, and it ends with an F, so you can block other players from playing off the end of it, you know, and things like that. And it’s just a great word, but, you know, I always get challenged. You know, all these people are like, that’s not a real word. It doesn’t sound like a real word. And I’m kind of lost to telling, you know, where it comes from.
All right. Well, we can help you with that, definitely. So the word is Z-A-R-F, and you said it means a cup holder, which is a good general definition of it. Another spelling is…
A metal cup holder.
A metal cup holder, that’s right. Another spelling of it is Z-U-R-F. And this word comes to English from Arabic.
Oh, really?
Yeah, we borrowed it as early as 1800. You can find it first written in English in that year in a listing of talking about metals being sold from Germany to Greece. And I’m quoting here from the document. It says, as being manufactured into zarfs, a species of saucers which are made to use for the support of coffee cups. And so this word is widespread in Arabic and Turkish and Persian. I think it even appears in some of the North Indian languages, certainly the languages of Afghanistan and Pakistan. You’ll also find it in some parts of Greece traditionally. So it’s great. It’s a historical word because it maps almost perfectly to the outer reaches of the Ottoman Empire.
I love it. It’s a great word for that purpose. Notice the definition that I mentioned there. I said something about a saucer. It’s depending on the culture you’re in, it takes different forms. So it’s not just the cup holder. Sometimes it’s a very ornate silver or brass kind of container, which you set your cup containing the scalding coffee in because it’s for those like really tiny little cups of coffee that you might drink, about the size of an espresso, maybe a little larger. And in some dialects, it’s used just to mean any vessel or container, and it can even mean a container of time.
What do you mean a container of time?
Like the outer dimensions of a period of time is the zarf for that time.
Well, now, I like the idea of expanding the meaning of this. In fact, I’m thinking when I go into Starbucks and the coffee comes in that really hot cup and they put the little jacket on it, why do we call it a zarf? Instead of calling it a cozy, why not?
That would totally work, wouldn’t it?
Yes.
Jimmy, what do you think?
Absolutely. That sounds like a great use of the word to get it a little bit more mainstream.
Yeah. And also, you know, it sounds, I mean, you know, for me, it’s more of a manly sounding word than cozy, you know. I’d rather put my beer in a zarf than a cozy.
Yeah, or a koozie.
Yeah, or a koozie. So there you go. I like that, putting your beer in a zarf. You’re our kind of guy. You’re a big nerd and you like to play with words.
Absolutely. I’m a big nerd who’s also a big guy.
Okay, there we go. I like it. Drink it out of their manly zarf. So use zarf freely. By the way, thank you for alerting me to that word. I wasn’t quite aware, but it does have special Scrabble properties, doesn’t it?
Yes.
Well, Jimmy, thank you so much.
Well, thank you. You have a good day.
What a nice, great…
I can totally see why people think that’s fake. It sounds like a made-up planet or some science fiction novel.
From the planet zarf.
Yeah. If you have a question about a word that you encountered that doesn’t seem quite real, give us a call, 1-877-929-9673, or send us an email to words@waywordradio.org.
