Latvian cukurs acquired the <c> (/ts/) sound only in the 19th century, before that it is attested as sukurs. Karulis thinks that the Latvian term was borrowed via a historical Livonian form sukker.[1] Suhonen, in turn, list the modern Livonian tsukkõr as borrowed from Latvian cukurs, alongside he also lists sukkur from the comparably poorly attested Salaca Livonian and the form cukars from Dundaga Latvian[2] (close to the modern Livonian speaking area), the latter is essentially identical to the modern Livonian term in its phonetic makeup.
This would not be the only example of re-borrowing, compare, for example, Livonian būojõ from Latvian bojāt which ultimately from Livonian pūoj.
If both Karulis and Suhonen be right, then the origin of this term is tsukkõr < Latvian cukurs < Livonian sukker ~ sukkur < German Zucker < Italian zucchero < < Arabic سُكَّر (sukkar) < Persian شکر < Sanskrit शर्करा (śarkarā).
tsukkõr
| singular (ikšlug) | plural (pǟgiņlug) | |
|---|---|---|
| nominative (nominatīv) | tsukkõr | tsukkõrd |
| genitive (genitīv) | tsukkõr | tsukkõrd |
| partitive (partitīv) | tsukkõrt | tsukkõri |
| dative (datīv) | tsukkõrõn | tsukkõrdõn |
| instrumental (instrumentāl) | tsukkõrõks | tsukkõrdõks |
| illative (illatīv) | tsukkõrõ | tsukkõriž |
| inessive (inesīv) | tsukkõrõs tsukkõrs |
tsukkõris |
| elative (elatīv) | tsukkõrõst tsukkõrst |
tsukkõrist |