σάκκος

• σᾰ́κος (sákos) — Attic

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.

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

1. coarse cloth of hair, especially of goat's hair
2. anything made of coarse cloth:
   1. sack, bag

      Synonym: σᾰ́κτᾱς (sáktās)

   2. sieve, strainer
   3. coarse garment, sackcloth, worn as mourning by the Jews
   4. (Christianity) sackcloth vestment, penitential garb
3. coarse beard

This entry needs quotations to illustrate usage. If you come across any interesting, durably archived quotes then please add them!

• “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, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • bag idem, page 59.
  • pocket idem, page 622.
  • pouch idem, page 630.
  • sack idem, page 728.
• “σάκκος”, in ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ Dictionaries for Ancient Greek and Latin (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese), University of Chicago, since 2011