Quote Originally Posted by Johanna
How funny - Swedish has the same word (kofta). It means cardigan.
Wonder what the origin of the word is.... There was nothing about it in Wiktionary.
I checked my Etymological Dictionary, and it says that we borrowed this word from Poles in 18th century, and Poles borrowed it from Scandinavians (namely Swedes and/or Norwegians)!
It's really unexpected and interesting, I always thought that this word had some Tatar roots and was borrowed in the early Middle ages along with other Russian words, like "kaftan" (of Turkish origin).

I guess one needs to check Scandinavian dictionaries to find out, how this word was invented in the first place.