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[eLLioTT morEton]

On Tue, 28 Jul 2020, Ziv Stern wrote:

> <https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/softa> says "from Persian
> *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 sūḫte someone or something burning or burnt, 
suffering lover (14th cent.), student at a madrasa (16th cent.) < Persian 
sūkhta, sōkhta 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