n.
WA pl. serkis
'undergarment'
(Modern English sark)The absence of palatalization of /k/ non-initially may indicate derivation or input from the ON cognate of OE sierc (also sierce, fem.) 'shirt', cp. OIcel serkr 'long undershirt, nightshirt' (< PGmc *sarkiz), but it could also be explained as a native development, e.g. by analogy with /k/ before a back vowel in other parts of the paradigm.
PGmc Ancestor
*sarkiz
Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)
serkr 'long undershirt, nightshirt'
(ONP serkr (1) (sb.))
Other Scandinavian Reflexes
Far serkur, Icel serkur, Norw serk, ODan særk, Sw särk
OE Cognate
sierc (also sierce, fem.) 'shirt'
Phonological and morphological markers
[absence of palatalization of */k/] (possibly diagnostic)
Summary category
CC2c
The first instance of a spelling certainly indicating /k/ comes from (c1300) Havelok (LdMisc 108) and MED's subsequent attestations come from N/EM texts; predominantly N and Sc in MnE dial.
Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus
WA 4339, 4672, 4963