A low upholstered seat or footstool without arms or back, often used as a footrest. Can also refer to a storage chest with a padded top.
From Arabic عُثْمَانِيّ (ʿUthmānī), meaning 'Ottoman' or 'Turkish,' referring to the Ottoman Empire. The furniture piece entered English in the 18th century, named after the low, cushioned seating popular in Ottoman Turkish homes. The word originally described the people and empire founded by Osman I.
The ottoman footstool is named after an entire empire! European visitors to Ottoman Turkey were so impressed by the low, cushioned seating in Turkish homes that they brought both the furniture style and the name back to Europe, forever linking this humble footrest to one of history's great empires.
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