Černý and Forbes suggest the word was originally Egyptian, a nominal derivative ofsꜣq(“to gather or put together”) that also yieldedCopticⲥⲟⲕ(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 thanשַׂק. Instead, they posit that the Coptic and Greek words are both borrowed from Semitic, with the Coptic word perhaps developing viaEgyptiansꜣgꜣ.
Sense evolution
“Pillage” senses from the use of sacks in carrying off plunder. FromMiddle Frenchsac, shortened from the phrasemettre à sac (“put it in a bag”), a military command to pillage; also parallel meaning withItaliansacco(“plunder”), fromMedieval Latinsaccō(“pillage”). FromVulgar Latinsaccare(“to plunder”), fromsaccus(“sack”).See alsoransack. American football “tackle” sense from this “plunder, conquer” root.
“Removal from employment” senses attested since 1825; the original formula was “to give (someone) the sack”, likely from the notion of a worker going off with his tools in a sack, or being given such a sack for his personal belongings as part of an expedient severance. Idiom exists earlier inFrench (on luy a donné son sac, 17c.) andMiddle Dutch(iemand den zak geven). English verb in this sense recorded from 1841. Current verb,to sack (“to fire”) carries influence from the forceful nature of “plunder, tackle” verb senses.
Slang meaning “bunk, bed” is attested since 1825, originally nautical, likely in reference tosleeping bags. The verb meaning “go to bed” is recorded from 1946.
Slang meaning "scrotum" is an ellipsis ofballsack.
Abag; especially a large bag of strong, coarse material for storage and handling of variouscommodities, such as potatoes, coal, coffee; or, a bag with handles used at asupermarket, agrocery sack; or, a small bag for small items, asatchel.
Theamount a sack holds; also, an archaic or historical measure of varying capacity, depending on commodity type and according to local usage; an old English measure of weight, usually of wool, equal to 13stone (182 pounds), or in other sources, 26 stone (364 pounds).
The Americansack of salt is 215 pounds; thesack of wheat, two bushels. — McElrath.
1843,The Penny Cyclopaedia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, volume27,page202:
Seven pounds make a clove, 2 cloves a stone, 2 stone a tod, 6 1/2 tods a wey, 2 weys a sack, 12 sacks a last. [...] It is to be observed here that a sack is 13 tods, and a tod 28 pounds, so that the sack is 364 pounds.
2023 October 4, Damien Gayle, Ajit Niranjan, “Climate scientist faces sack for refusing to fly to Germany from Solomon Islands archipelago”, inThe Guardian[2],→ISSN:
A climate researcher has been threatened with thesack by his employer after refusing to fly back to Germany at short notice after finishing fieldwork on Bougainville in the Solomon Islands archipelago.
(dated) A kind of loose-fittinggown ordress with sleeves which hangs from theshoulders, such as a gown with aWatteau back orsack-back, fashionable in the late 17th to 18th century; or, formerly, a loose-fitting hip-lengthjacket,cloak orcape.
Molly, therefore, having dressed herself out in thissack, with a new laced cap, and some other ornaments which Tom had given her, repairs to church with her fan in her hand the very next Sunday.
Her Dress, too, was of the same cast, a thin muslin shortsacque and Coat lined throughout with Pink, – amodesty bit – and something of avery short cloak half concealed about half of her old wrinkled Neck […].
1828,JT Smith,Nollekens and His Times, Century Hutchinson, published1986, page13:
This lady's interesting figure, on her wedding-day, was attired in asacque and petticoat of the most expensive brocaded white silk, resembling net-work, enriched with small flowers[…].
(dated) A sack coat; a kind of coat worn by men, and extending from top to bottom without a cross seam.
A girl portersacking some of the many thousands of used railway tickets which are turned over by the London Passenger Transport Board to assist the waste paper salvage campaign
To bear or carry in a sack upon the back or the shoulders.
[…] Boris Berezovsky on Friday dismissed President Boris Yeltsin's move tosack him from his post as executive secretary of the Commonwealth of Independent States,[…]
Waste my time working for cowards and creeps / Oh I wish that they'dsack me and leave me to sleep
2021 July 28, Paul Bigland, “Calder line captures picturesque Pennines”, inRAIL, number936, page66:
As an aside, Luddendenfoot once had a famous (or perhaps infamous) clerk - drunkard Branwell Brontë, brother to the famous Brontë sisters and writers. He wassacked from his post in March 1842 after an audit revealed a discrepancy in the books. Today, a blue plaque on the Jubilee Refreshment rooms at Sowerby Bridge station commemorates him.
2022 September 13, Mark Trevelyan, Filipp Lebedev, “Russian council faces dissolution after call for Putin's removal”, in Bill Berkrot, editor,Reuters[3], archived fromthe original on13 September 2022, Europe[4]:
A group of St Petersburg local politicians who called for President Vladimir Putin to besacked over the war in Ukraine faces the likely dissolution of their district council following a judge's ruling on Tuesday, one of the deputies said.
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions atWiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
How cam'ſt thou hither? / Sweare by this Bottle how thou cam'ſt hither: I eſcap'd / vpon a But ofSacke, which the Saylors heaued o'reboord, by this Bottle which I made of the barke of a Tree, with mine owne hands, since I was caſt a'ſhore.
1848 January, Charles M. Westmacott, “The Stage of Life”, inThe Sporting Review, volume15,page23:
The vesper bell had rung its parting note; thedomini were mostly caged in comfortable quarters, discussing the merits of old port; and the merry student had closed his oak, to consecrate the night to friendship,sack, and claret.
1936,Norman Lindsay,The Flyaway Highway, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page35:
"He's got a venison pastry and a flagon ofsack in that cupboard behind him."
Hoch, James E. (1994),Semitic Words in Egyptian Texts of the New Kingdom and Third Intermediate Period, Princeton: Princeton University Press,→ISBN, page269
sack on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Sack in theEncyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)
