Subject: [Fictionary] There is a Winner!

From: Fran Poodry <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 2020 13:45:44 -0700

The Winner is Ziv!

SOFTA

softa, n. a dry, westerly summer wind emanating from the Monaro plateau in
New South Wales, Australia

By Jim

4 (2, Eric; 2, David)

softa, n. a Muslim student of sacred law and theology

By The Oxford English Reference Dictionary

4 (Liz, 2; Pierre, 2)

softa, n. angular particles of mica-group minerals in the silt to fine
sand-size classification, common in Gelisols

By Eric

3 (Liz, 1; 2, Jim)

softa, adj. [fr. Finn., softakainen] old, aged, antique

By Hutch

4 (1, Ranjit; 1, Ziv; 2, Linda)

softa, n. the act of overeating out of politeness, often in order to show
appreciation for the food or its preparer(s)

By Ziv

5 (1, Eric; 2, Ranjit; 1, David; 1, Elliott)

SOFTA, abr. (Military slang): Senior Officer Fucked Things Again

By Elizabeth

2 (2, Elliott)

softa, n. marbled bimetallic sheet metal used on ship hulls in saltwater to
electrically discourage barnacle growth

By Elliott

1 (1, Pierre)

softa, n. armor grease made from goat fat

By David

4 (2, Ziv; 1, Linda; 1, Jim)

softa, v. in the game of coddum, to inadvertently reveal the location of
the Coin

By Pierre

no points

-- 
*Fran Poodry (she/her)*
*Oregon, USA*

*“Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.” ― Margaret Mead
<http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/61107.Margaret_Mead>*

---

From: Ziv Stern <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 2020 17:59:25 -0400

Oh man! I was about to guess the right answer, but I thought a muslim
theological word would *have* to be from Classical Arabic, which (I think)
doesn't have an [o]. I need to learn more about Islam, apparently...
For the Jews among you, I hope you'll be amused to know my definition was
inspired by the word "savta" ("grandmother").

For the next round, does anyone know the word INTING? This is an ~internet
word~, whose definition I would be getting from Urban Dictionary. Let me
know by Friday, the 31st.

-Ziv

On Tue, Jul 28, 2020 at 4:46 PM Fran Poodry <[email-masked]> wrote:

> softa, n. marbled bimetallic sheet metal used on ship hulls in saltwater
> to electrically discourage barnacle growth
>
> By Elliott
>
> 1 (1, Pierre)
>
> *“Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.” ― Margaret
> Mead <http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/61107.Margaret_Mead>*
>

---

From: E Cohen <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 2020 18:27:09 -0400

> For the Jews among you, I hope you'll be amused to know my definition 
> was inspired by the word "savta" ("grandmother").
Hah! My mother goes by "savta" but I didn't make the connection.

-- Eric   |   [email-masked]

---

From: Pierre Abbat <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 2020 18:48:04 -0400

> inspired by the word "savta" ("grandmother").

I looked it up afterward; it's from Turkish. The Turkish Wiktionary says it's 
from an Arabic root, but doesn't say what the Arabic word is. I suspect it's 
from an Arabic cognate of Hebrew שופט and said so with my vote.

Pierre

-- 
sei do'anai mi'a djuno puze'e noroi nalselganse srera

---

From: Ziv Stern <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 2020 19:17:17 -0400

> Ahh, I like this theory! Merriam-Webster
<https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/softa> says "from Persian
*sōkhtah* burnt, kindled (with love of knowledge)", but I'm doubtful... [x]
borrowed as [f]??

---

From: eLLioTT morEton <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 2020 23:03:22 -0400 (EDT)

On Tue, 28 Jul 2020, Ziv Stern wrote:

> *sÿÿkhtah* burnt, kindled (with love of knowledge)", but I'm doubtful... [x]
> borrowed as [f]??

We've all seen those signs in airports:  ``Many non-strident fricatives 
sound alike.''  There are several cases where Middle English [x] developed 
into [f]:  tough, rough, trough, cough, laugh, draught, enough, etc. (see 
OED at _laugh_).

Here's the OED's etymology for _softa_:

Etymology: < Italian softa (1599 as softi in the source translated in 
quot. 1603),
and its etymon Ottoman Turkish á¹£ofta student at a madrasa (16th cent.; 
Turkish softa student at a madrasa (historical), bigot, fanatic), 
apparently a variant of sÅ«á¸«te someone or something burning or burnt, 
suffering lover (14th cent.), student at a madrasa (16th cent.) < Persian 
sÅ«khta, sÅkhta burnt.
In form softi after Italian softi, perhaps after Italian mufti mufti n.1

So maybe the [x] turned into [f] in borrowing from Persian into Turkish, 
or maybe it was borrowed into Turkish as [x] and then changed to [f] 
within Turkish.

Regards,
em