Couch

The word couch originally referred to some sort of structure covered with material which was used for sleeping or resting. Its first use was in a very early translation from French into English in a book known as Ayenbite (an early English word for remorse). In the work which came out in 1340 and by the number of copies around seemed to be quite popular, many of the words in the book are translated literally and the translator writes about going to his bed and couch every night amid his tears. It was obviously in common enough use for Chaucer to describe making one’s couch and for the next few hundred years it is more a less a synonym for a bed. Parallel to this a couch was also something to sit on. But it was only used for the equivalent of a sofa with the industrialisation of furniture in the late 1800s. Then this piece of furniture came into every home.