SACK

This article appears in Volume V23, Page 973 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: RON-SAC

SACK , a large bag made of a coarse material such as is described under SACKING below. The word occurs with very little variation in all European languages, cf. Gr. DG,KKOS, Lat. saccus, Fr. sac, Span.

saco

SACO

, Du. zak, &c. All are borrowed from the Hebrew sag, properly a coarse stuff made of

hair

HAIR (a word common to Teutonic languages)

, hence a bag made of this material. Most etymologists attribute the widespread occurrence of the word to the story of Joseph and his brethren in Gen. xliv. The Hebrew word itself is' probably Egyptian, as is evidenced by the Coptic sok, Apart from its

ordinary

ORDINARY (med. Lat. ordinarius, Fr. ordinaire)

meaning, the word is used as a unit of dry measure, which has varied considerably at different times and places and for 'different goods; it is the customary 'British measure for coals, potatoes, apples and some other goods, and is equivalent to three bushels. From the end of the 17th to the middle of the 18th century the sack or " sacque " was a fashionable type of

gown

GOWN

for women, having a

long

LONG, GEORGE (1800-1879)
LONG, JOHN DAVIS (1838– )

flowing loose backhanging in pleats from the neck. It is still used as a tailor's or dressmaker's

term

TERM

for a loose straight-back coat. The Fr. sac meant also pillage, plunder, whence saccager, to plunder a town, especially after it had been taken by assault or after a siege. There is no doubt that it is an extension of " sack," a bag, with a reference to the most obvious receptacle for booty. The

slang

SLANG

expression " to give the sack," " to get the sack," of a person who has been turned out of a situation or been given notice to leave is an old French proverbial expression: Cotgrave gives On luy a donne sa sac et ses quilles,;" he hath his passport given him, he is turned out to grazing, said of a servant whom his master hath put away." The New English Dictionary finds the expression also in 15th-century Dutch.
It remains to distinguish the name,

familiar

FAMILIAR (through the Fr. familier, from Lat. familiaris, of or belonging to the familia, family)

from English literature of the 16th and 17th centuries, of a. Spanish wine, which was of a strong, rough, dry kind (in Fr. vin sec, whence the name), and therefore usually sweetened and mixed with spice and mulled or " burnt." It became a common name for all the stronger white wines of the

South

SOUTH
SOUTH, ROBERT (1634–1716)

.

End of Article: SACK

If you wish, you can link directly to this article.

<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/RON_SAC/SACK.html">
SACK
</a>

(Previous)
SACHS, MICHAEL (18081864)

(Next)
SACKBUT, SHAKBUSSHE, SAGBUT, DRAW

JCSM was founded in 1997 and exists to help the community and bring people into a life-changing and productive relationship with Jesus Christ. JCSM offers over 200,000 free web pages, including its weekly inspirational emails that were sent continuously for over a decade.

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries
P.O. Box 9297
San Diego, CA 92169
1-888-887-0417 or Email