I'm taking a survey to see how common this word for a generously endowed woman is in your part of the world. Please respond with the country you live in and whether 'zaftig' is used or understood by English speakers there.

Not being in a position to speak for all my compatriots, I will still hazard a guess and say that the word would be very uncoomon here in Zild. Few would know its meaning, fewer still would use it. That's my swag, anyway.

This is western NC, and the word has TWO syllables. Need I say more?

Personally, I use it quite often. I also often have to explain myself.

Though I've read that word. I have never heard it spoken by anyone in my life.

Have heard it occasionally; used it rarely.

I know it and sometimes use it, but my family is German, so maybe that's why. Was going to add that a few of my friends know it too, but was surprised to realise that they are German/Austrian, too!

know it, use it, (sometimes to describe myself, but that's really a stretch..)
to me, its well proportioned, (generous, in full bloom) but not the same as overweight... anna nicole was zaftig, she was full sized, with well rounded, full bust and hips, not just lumpy..

I first heard it in the context of an old TRS-80 program called ZAP, which stood for Zaftig Alteration Program. This allowed you to go into any file (including executable programs) and change things down at the byte level - sort of like an interactive version of the Unix 'od' utility. I've seen the term used only a few times outside that context, but only a few times in a non-parenthetical context.

k

I use it on occasion and have heard it used.

Western Canada calling. I've heard of rubenesque (rare), voluptuous (occasional and well understood) and Wow!! but never zaftig.

In the Northwest Corner of the Left Coast, the word is used primarily by Jewish people and by those who are in frequent conversation with Jewish people. It may be German, but it is Yiddish to me.

It may be German, but it is Yiddish to me.

Saftig is German; it means literally 'juicy'. Saft 'juice' is related to English sap, Latin sapio 'to taste, savor, smack; to smell; to know, be wise', and Illyrian sabaium 'beer'; zaftik (but written in Hebrew letters) means 'juicy, succulent' (< zaft 'juice'). Yiddish is a German language related to English, Dutch, German, Icelandic, and a host of others ...

zaftik (but written in Hebrew letters) means 'juicy, succulent' (< zaft 'juice').

Do you know, nuncle, if the common English meaning is from a Yiddish usage? That is, is it used in Yiddish to refer to a pleasingly plump woman?

Do you know [...] if the common English meaning is from a Yiddish usage?

Yes, according to the OED, MW, and AH it's from the Yiddish, but both Weinreich and Harkavy just give the literal translation. I've only heard it used in an Anglo-Yiddish context. I wonder if it has a particular, literary provenance.

OED Online:
U.S. colloq.
[Yiddish, a. from German saftig 'juicy'.]
Of a woman: plump, curvaceous, sexy .

1937 Meyer Levin, The Old Bunch "He could see himself
on the road, whizzing by a flaming poster-- a
beautiful..girl, snappy, modern, zaftig."

I know the *word's from Yiddish. What I was wondering was if the 'pleasingly plump' meaning was used in Yiddish.

I'm taking a survey to see how common this word for a generously endowed woman is

I daresay most will agree that its obscurity is undeserved ... but perhaps fortuitous.

We have words enough in common use to describe "a generously endowed woman", including "voluptuous beauty" and other terms such as "bimbo" and "arm candy" which impress moral judgments on the figure [even as they impress contradictory judgments upon the eye ].

"Zaftig" leaves more to the imagination ... like a bathrobe, provocative in the right circumstances without being explicit.

I know the *word's from Yiddish. What I was wondering was if the 'pleasingly plump' meaning was used in Yiddish.

That's the only way I've heard it used in English. As I said above, the only meanings given in the two Yiddish-English dictionaries I have at hand gloss it as 'juicy'. othing mentioned about rubinesque women at all. That's why I was wondering if its use in English matches some translated use in Yiddish literature. Sorry about the confusion. I'll send a note to a Yiddish blogging buddy of mine and let you know.

fwiw, zaftig did not appear in the first few Yiddish dictionaries that popped up on Google.

Never heard the word. It sounds like a name.

“Meet my colleague Zaftig, Mr Bond. He is the last person you will ever meet. Heh, heh, heh, snigger.”

In Yiddish it's zaftik.

Honestly, Faldage, the first thing I thought of was a candy bar--and then I remembered: Oh, that's a Zagnut.

What does 'zaf' mean? I'll have to reread this thread because you proably already instructed us and I glided past that definition...will go check right this instant.
In fact, what does 'zag' mean?

Modern German is saftig, from der Saft, juice. The Middle High German was saftec.

>In fact, what does 'zag' mean?

The opposite of zig.

The opposite of zig.