Etymology of Russian "sorok"?

[Keenan, Edward]

Consider also Eng./Scot. "sark," a short chemise or shirt, as in Robert
Burns' "Tam O'Shanter." (Nannie is wearing one.)  The whisky "Cutty
Sark" is named for the clipper ship of the same name, launched at
Dumbarton on the Clyde in 1869, which had ("has," actually -- she's in
drydock in Greenwich) a figurehead depicting Burns' Nannie.

Edward L. Keenan
Andrew W. Mellon Professor of History
Harvard University


-----Original Message-----
From: Slavic & East European Languages and Literature list
[mailto:SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU] On Behalf Of A.Smith
Sent: Monday, October 17, 2005 4:16 PM
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Etymology of Russian "sorok"?


According to Tsyganenko's dictionary (G.P. Tsyganenko. "Etimologicheskii
slovar' russkogo iazyka", Kiev, "Radians'ka shkola", 1989, pp.393-94),
the word "sorok" is an Eastern Slavic word; it began to appear in
written speech in the twelve century. Its origin is likely to be related
to the second meaning of the word SOROK" (with a hard sign in the end)
which denotes "SACK" (meshok), which used to contain 40 sable skins
(sorok sobolei). She
says: " when people wanted to buy some fur they were offered sacks
containg 40  pieces in each sack".She also relates it to the word
"sorochka"
(rubakha) and says that the word sorok might have come originally either
from Germany, Greece, or from Iceland: serkr (=rubakha).

Alexandra Smith

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