From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 18291
Date: 2003-01-29
----- Original Message -----
From: <tgpedersen@...>
To: <cybalist@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 29, 2003 2:33 PM
Subject: Re: [tied] Fw: Sorok i devianosto
> 'Ordbog over det danske sprog' says < Lat. serica "silk"
Very doubtful, both formally (the Norse comparative evidence points to *sark-i-) and semantically. What was in all likelihood a garbled version of the Graeco-Latin word had diffused early into Germanic and Slavic and is represented as ON silki (n.) (cf. OE si(o)loc < *siluk). A Germanic "sark" was just any kind of (under)shirt, also a linen one, and if the example of <berserkr> "bear-sark" is anything to go by, a garment made of skins would count too. I'll check other sources soon.
Piotr