turf [OE] The Old English word turf goes back to a root shared by darbha ‘tuft of grass’ in Sanskrit, the ancient language of northern India. The grass surface of a racecourse has led horseracing to be the turf since the mid 18th century. Since the 1950s criminals or street gangs have their own turf, an area of personal territory, the source also of turf wars [1970s].