Etymology of Russian "sorok"?

[John Dingley]

Hi,

Prof. Keenan is probably on the right track. Here is what I recently
wrote on the subject in connexion with Scandinavian loanwords found
in Russian:

It is just possible that the highly mysterious "sorok" derives 
ultimately from the Old Scandinavian "serkr", which meant "a certain 
number of hides or pelts" or "a sack in which pelts were stored". 
Possibly the pelts were stored in forties or perhaps it took forty
pelts to make a coat. The word seems connected with the Russian word 
"sorochka", meaning a "shirt", the Old Swedish word "särk", also
meaning a "shirt", and additionally the Scottish word "sark",
meaning a "chemise". The Scottish word "sark" found immortal fame in 
the poem by Robbie Burns called Tam o'Shanter, telling of the beautiful 
young witch Nannie, who always wore a "cutty sark", meaning in standard 
English a "short chemise". Later, one of the most celebrated clipper
ships, the "Cutty Sark", launched in 1870, was named in honour of 
Burns's Nannie, who is, to boot, the ship's figurehead. But, truth to 
tell, nobody really knows where the enigmatic "sorok" comes from. The 
word is first recorded in "Russkaja Pravda" from 1282 and then goes on 
to supplant the earlier and expected form "cetyredcat'". The word is
also found in Belorussian (sorak) and Ukrainian (sorok), where it is,
like Russian, the standard word for forty.

http://www.figureheads.com/cutty/nannie.html

But Tam kent what was what fu' brawlie: 
There was ae whinsome wench and waulie 
That night enlisted in the core, 
Lang after ken'd on Carrick shore; 
(For mony a beast to dead she shot, 
And perish'd mony a bonie boat, 
And shook baith meikle corn and bear, 
And kept the country-side in fear); 
Her cutty sark, o' Paisley harn, 
That while a lassie she had worn, 
In longitude tho' sorely scanty, 
It was her best, and she was vauntie. 
Ah! little ken'd thy reverend grannie, 
That sark she coft for her wee Nannie, 
whi twa pund Scots ('twas a' her riches), 
Wad ever grac'd a dance of whitches!

John Dingley

------------
http://dlll.yorku.ca/jding.html

Quoting "Keenan, Edward" <KeenanE at DOAKS.ORG>:

> 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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