Language desk
< December 24	<< Nov \| December \| Jan >>	Current desk >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Language Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is a transcluded archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

December 25

A question in Turkish

What's the difference between masa and sofra? They both meaning table. 2A0D:6FC0:8340:A600:C596:DCA7:9591:58F0 (talk) 08:28, 25 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

wordreference.com masa / sofra says (if I'm reading it correctly) that masa is the physical item of furniture, whereas sofra is the concept of a table prepared for eating and originally referred to a sort of picnic blanket. Alansplodge (talk) 11:25, 25 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I can confirm that this is correct. Interestingly, the word sofra is etymologically related to safari, sharing a common root meaning "journey". The word entered Turkish through Persian but is ultimately Arabic, originally referring to the blanket used by the Bedouin for wrapping the food taken on a journey, also serving to sit on after unwrapping. --Lambiam 16:47, 25 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]