Re: [tied] Fw: Sorok i devianosto

There's also a subversion of this etymology, explaining ORuss _sorokU_
eventually from the Proto-Slavic root-nest *sork- 'shirt; any sack-like
object' (cf. ORuss _soroc^IkU_ '40 skins' < 'sack of 40 skins' < 'sack',
but _soroc^ica_ 'shirt').

Sergei

> -----Original Message-----
> From: george knysh [mailto:gknysh@...]
> Sent: Tuesday, January 28, 2003 2:19 AM
> To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: Re: [tied] Fw: Sorok i devianosto
>
> > What is the source of this SOROK ?
>
> *****GK: It apparently derives (for all East Slavic
> languages) from mediaeval Byzantine-Rus' commercial
> contacts. One Byzantine litra (a unit of account found
> in the earliest treaties between Kyiv and
> Constantinople) was the equivalent of 40 marten skins.
> And so Greek "tessarokonta" --> sorokonta --> sorokont
> --> SOROK replaced the basic Slavic "chotyry desjat'".
> There is a good account in O. Nazarenko's
> "Proizkhozhdenie drevnerusskogo denezhno-vesovogo
> scheta", published as pp. 5-79 of the 1996 issue of
> DREVNEISHIE GOSUDARSTVA VOSTOCHNOI YEVROPI.*****
>