Re: [tied] Fw: Sorok i devianosto

--- "Sergejus Tarasovas <S.Tarasovas@...>"
<S.Tarasovas@...> wrote:

> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, x99lynx@... wrote:
> >
> > Just a quick note. I would ask how the "sack"
> word enters in
> here.
> > <tessarakonta> simply means forty of anything.
> I'm not aware of
> furs or
> > skins being "sacked" or needing to be (though they
> may have been
> wrapped in
> > sack-cloth, I suppose.)
> >
>
> Yes, wrapped in sack-cloth _in forties_, since it
> (is traditionally
> considered that it) takes forty skins to make a
> coat. Cf. the
> quotations from Dahl in my previous message. But I
> don't support this
> _(tes)sar�konta_-etymology anyway.
>
> Sergei

******GK: Note that originally the reason for the "40
in a sack" was not that given by Dahl, but because
this was the equivalent of a Byzantine litra (a unit
of account). I don't find Sergei's counter-arguments
entirely persuasive since his Vasmer quote needs
further explicitation and the Dahl material is too far
removed to be conclusive in any sense.*****

>
>

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