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Origin and history of sofa

sofa(n.)

1620s, "raised section of a floor, covered with carpets and cushions," as a feature of Eastern interiors, from Turkish sofa, from Arabic suffah "bench of stone or wood; a couch." The meaning "long stuffed seat for reclining" is recorded from 1717. Sofa bed, "sofa designed to double as a bed" is by 1794.

also from 1620s

Entries linking to sofa

sofa-bed(n.)

"piece of furniture forming a sofa but capable of being opened or altered into a bed," 1805, from sofa + bed (n.).

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    couch
    c. 1300, "to spread or lay on a surface, to overlay," from Old French couchier "to lay down, place; go to bed, put to bed," from Latin collocare "to lay, place, station, arrange," from assimilated form of com "with, together" (see com-) + locare "to place," from locus "a place" (
    lounge
    c. 1500, "to loll idly, act or rest lazily and indifferently, move indolently if at all," Scottish, a word of uncertain origin. The meaning "recline lazily" is from 1746. Perhaps [Barnhart] it is from French s'allonger (paresseusement) "to lounge about, lie at full length," from
    kaffeeklatsch
    THE living-room in a German household always contains a large sofa at one side of the room, which is the seat of honor accorded...At a Kaffeeklatsch (literally, coffee gossip) the guests of honor are seated on this sofa, and the large round table is wheeled...
    bundling
    bundling has prevailed 160 years in New England, and, I verily believe, with ten times more chastity than the sitting on a sofa...Bundling takes place only in cold seasons of the year—the sofa in summer is more dangerous than the bed in winter....
    Chesterfield
    As a kind of overcoat and a kind of sofa (both 19c.), in reference to earls of Chesterfield....
    squab
    young bird," earlier (1630s) "unformed, lumpish person" and used at various times for any sort of flabby mass, such as sofa...
    anti-macassar
    The cloth was laid to protect chair and sofa fabric from men leaning their oily heads back against it....
    convertible
    late 14c., "interchangeable," from Old French convertible "interchangeable" (13c.) and directly from Late Latin convertibilis "changeable," from Latin convertere "to turn around; transform," from assimilated form of com "with, together" (see con-) + vertere "to turn" (from PIE ro
    viand
    "article of food," early 14c., from Anglo-French viaunde, Old French viande "food (vegetable as well as animal), victuals, provisions" (11c.), a dissimilation of Vulgar Latin *vivanda, from Late Latin vivenda "things for living, things to be lived upon," in classical Latin, "be l
    divan
    1580s, "Oriental council of state," from Turkish divan, from Arabic diwan, from Persian devan "bundle of written sheets, small book, collection of poems" (as in the "Divan i-Hafiz"), related to debir "writer." Sense evolved in Arabic through "book of accounts," to "office of acco

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