σάκκος

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

σᾰ́κος (sắkos) — Attic

Etymology

Most likely borrowed from Semitic, possibly from Phoenician. Compare Hebrew שַׂק, Imperial Aramaic 𐡔𐡒 (šq), Talmudic Aramaic סַקָּא, Classical Syriac ܣܩܐ, Ge'ez ሠቅ (śäḳ), Akkadian 𒆭𒊓 (/⁠šaqqu⁠/), Egyptian sꜣgꜣ. The word is a widely-borrowed Mediterranean Kulturwort.^[1]

Černý and Forbes suggest the word was originally Egyptian, a nominal derivative of sꜣq (“to gather or put together”) that also yielded Coptic ⲥⲟⲕ (sok, “sackcloth”) and was borrowed into Greek perhaps by way of a Semitic intermediary. However, Vycichl and Hoch reject this idea, noting that such an originally Egyptian word would be expected to yield Hebrew *סַק rather than שַׂק. Instead, they posit that the Coptic and Greek words are both borrowed from Semitic, with the Coptic word perhaps developing via Egyptian sꜣgꜣ.

Pronunciation

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /sák.kos/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈsak.kos/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈsa.kos/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈsa.kos/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈsa.kos/

Noun

σᾰ́κκος • (sắkkos) m (genitive σᾰ́κκου); second declension

coarse cloth of hair, especially of goat's hair
anything made of coarse cloth:
1. sack, bag
  Synonym: σᾰ́κτᾱς (sắktās)
2. sieve, strainer
3. coarse garment, sackcloth, worn as mourning by the Jews
4. (Christianity) sackcloth vestment, penitential garb
coarse beard

Inflection

Second declension of ὁ σᾰ́κκος; τοῦ σᾰ́κκου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ σᾰ́κκος ho sắkkos	τὼ σᾰ́κκω tṑ sắkkō	οἱ σᾰ́κκοι hoi sắkkoi
Genitive	τοῦ σᾰ́κκου toû sắkkou	τοῖν σᾰ́κκοιν toîn sắkkoin	τῶν σᾰ́κκων tôn sắkkōn
Dative	τῷ σᾰ́κκῳ tōî sắkkōi	τοῖν σᾰ́κκοιν toîn sắkkoin	τοῖς σᾰ́κκοις toîs sắkkois
Accusative	τὸν σᾰ́κκον tòn sắkkon	τὼ σᾰ́κκω tṑ sắkkō	τοὺς σᾰ́κκους toùs sắkkous
Vocative	σᾰ́κκε sắkke	σᾰ́κκω sắkkō	σᾰ́κκοι sắkkoi
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

σᾰκκᾶς (săkkâs)
σᾰκκέω (săkkéō)
σᾰκκηγός (săkkēgós)
σᾰκκῐ́ᾱς (săkkĭ́ās)
σᾰκκῐ́δῐον (săkkĭ́dĭon)
σᾰκκῐ́ζω (săkkĭ́zō)
σᾰ́κκῐνος (sắkkĭnos)
σᾰκκῐ́ον (săkkĭ́on)
σᾰκκογενειοτρόφος (săkkogeneiotróphos)
σᾰκκοπήρᾰ (săkkopḗră)
σᾰκκοπλόκος (săkkoplókos)
σᾰκκορᾰ́φῐον (săkkorắphĭon)
σᾰκκούδῐον (săkkoúdĭon)
σᾰκκοῠ̈φᾰ́ντης (săkkoŭ̈phắntēs)
σᾰκκοφόρος (săkkophóros)
σᾰκκώνῠμος (săkkṓnŭmos)

Related terms

δῐσᾰ́κκῐον (dĭsắkkĭon)
σᾰκκηγέω (săkkēgéō)
σᾰκκηγῐ́ᾱ (săkkēgĭ́ā)
σᾰκκῐνόσῡκοι (săkkĭnósūkoi)
σᾰκκοφορέω (săkkophoréō)
σᾰκκοφορῐκός (săkkophorĭkós)

Descendants

Greek: σάκος (sákos)
→ Latin: saccus (see there for further descendants)
→ Mingrelian: საკი (saḳi), სააკი (saaḳi)

References

^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “σάκκος”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 1302

“σάκκος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
Robert Jacobus Forbes (1955) Studies in Ancient Technology, volume 4, page 66
Černý, Jaroslav (1976) Coptic Etymological Dictionary, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 149
Vycichl, Werner (1983) Dictionnaire Étymologique de la Langue Copte, Leuven: Peeters, →ISBN, page 186
Hoch, James E. (1994) Semitic Words in Egyptian Texts of the New Kingdom and Third Intermediate Period, Princeton: Princeton University Press, →ISBN, page 269
G4526 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
- bag idem, page 59.
- pocket idem, page 622.
- pouch idem, page 630.
- sack idem, page 728.
σάκκος, in ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ [Logeion] Dictionaries for Ancient Greek and Latin (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese), University of Chicago, since 2011

[1] Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “σάκκος”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 1302

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