Zarf – an Everyday Item whose Name You Didn’t Know

Hello,

You might be aware that a version of this blog is available on regional radio in Ireland once a month. The lovely Sinéad Brassil on LMFM Radio hosts me on Wordfoolery Wednesdays once a month to bring strange words and the stories behind them to the listeners. If you live outside of Ireland you can still listen online or catch the podcast later – some samples are available on my Listen page.

We’ve developed the habit of challenging listeners to guess the meaning of a Mystery Word as part of our session and in March 2022 the audience loved guessing about zarf so I thought I’d share it with you too. I gave three suggestions – an extreme sport, a cup-holder, and a beauty treatment but suggestions from callers included – a comic-book Batman exclamation, a TV alien, an extra toe, a child named by a celebrity, and the noise you make when you sneeze and fart at the same time. Yes, LMFM listeners are a witty bunch.

Sadly none of those meanings are correct but I love the inventiveness.

I found zarf in Susie Dent’s 2016 book “Dent’s Modern Tribes” which I read last year. I had been gathering words about specific occupations but it turns out she beat me to it. Zarf was my compensation for having to scrap that book idea. I love finding words like this where you instantly go “this is the word I didn’t even know I was seeking and yet will immediately add to my vocabulary”.

So what is a zarf? In modern life it’s the cardboard cup-holder wrapped around your takeaway coffee to prevent you burning your fingers. See what I mean? You never knew what that was called but you potentially use it often. Unfortunately as a non-coffee drinker I haven’t been able to get a zarf to use to illustrate today, please accept some other coffee paraphernalia as a substitute.

Not a zarf, sadly, but coffee at least

Zarf means envelope in Turkish and that’s where we get the word from – the zarf envelopes the cup. It’s a direct borrowing to English with a historic backstory.

In the 1500s, the Ottoman Empire banned alcohol and strong Turkish coffee became very popular, as did coffee houses. This worked well until the Sultan in the 17th century didn’t like the politics talked in the coffee houses and he outlawed them until the people revolted.

Under pressure, he re-opened them, but imposed a heavy coffee tax. Their drinks were served in glass or ceramic cups which were held in elaborate metal holders to prevent the drinkers from burning their hands. They were sometimes even encrusted with gems. These were called zarfs. You will sometimes still be served drinks such as mint tea in similar glass and metal vessels in Turkey, Morocco, and elsewhere.

Modern takeaway coffee zarfs are much simpler in design and were patented by an inventor called Jay Sorenson, in 1995. He may not have made them with silver and gems but apparently he makes eight million dollars a year from them. Nice work if you can get it.

Until next time, happy reading, writing, and wordfooling,

Grace (@Wordfoolery)