n.
'(piece of ) sackcloth'
(Modern English )ON input has been suggested to explain variant spellings of the common ME n. sak (MnE sack) indicating i-mutation of the vowel (see further Jordan-Crook §32 Remark 3) and lack of palatalization (so Bj., McGee, Anderson, MED). PGmc reflexes of the borrowed Lat. n. saccus (MLat saccium is sometimes reconstructed, so de Vries, AEW) indicate variation in the vocalism of the stem: cp. Go sakkus, OS sakk with OE sæcc, sacc (with /a/ restored), OHG sac and OIcel sekkr.
PGmc Ancestor
*sakkiz
Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)
sekkr 'sackcloth'
(ONP sekkr (sb.))
Other Scandinavian Reflexes
Far sekkur, Icel sekkur, Norw sekk, Dan sæk, Sw säck
OE Cognate
sacc, sæcc
Phonological and morphological markers
absence of palatalization of */k/
Summary category
C1c
(C2c)
Relevant spellings <seck-> and <sek-> are cited by OED and MED from the mid. 13c. onwards. They occur more commonly, but not exclusively, in texts from the N/EM thereafter. The sense 'sackcloth' is found in OE, but only persists into early MnE.
Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus
Pat 382