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Sark
Definitions
- 1 One of the Channel Islands; notable inter alia for its local government containing one of the last vestiges of feudalism in Europe.
- 2 A minor river in Dumfries and Galloway council area and Cumbria, forming part of the border between Scotland and England, which flows into the tidal Esk at Gretna; in full, the River Sark.
"I have often been amused by travellers pointing out, first the Eden, just north of the station, and then the Esk, which young Lochinvar swam, as the Border; the real boundary is, of course, the little river Sark, just south of the Caledonian station at Gretna; […]."
- 1 A shirt or smock. Northern-England, Scotland
"The next thing the watchers saw was the laird struggling up the far bank and casting his coat from him, so that he rode in his sark."
- 1 To cover with sarking, or thin boards. transitive
Etymology
Unknown, but see Wikipedia. Richard Coates has suggested derivation from a Proto-Semitic cognate of Arabic شرق (“east, Orient”), although this is considered unlikely. The river-name is probably derived from Proto-Brythonic *serch, of uncertain meaning and etymology but associated with "circularity".
From Middle English serk, sark, serke, from Old English serċ, sierċ m; and serċe, sierċe f (“sark, shirt, shift, smock, tunic, corselet, coat of mail”), from Proto-West Germanic *sarki, from Proto-Germanic *sarkiz (“shirt, armour, hauberk”), from Proto-Indo-European *swerg-, *swerk- (“clothes worn outside”), from Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“to arrange, tack, tie, unite”). Cognate with Scots sark, serk (“shirt, shift”), North Frisian serk (“shirt”), Danish særk (“gown, shirt”), Swedish särk (“shirt, chemise”), Icelandic serkur (“nightshirt”).
See also for "sark"
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