sake

sake¹ purpose

Pronunciation

• IPA: /seɪk/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English sake (“strife, guilt”), inherited from Old English sacu (“a cause at law, crime, dispute”),^[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *sakō (“affair, thing, charge”),^[2][3] also the source of Old Norse sǫk “lawsuit, cause”, Dutch zaak and German Sache “thing, matter”.^[2][3][4] It comes from the base of Old English sacan “to quarrel, accuse” and is related to seek;^[4] Etymonline traces it to Proto-Indo-European *sāg- (“to investigate, seek out”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Strife or a lawsuit in Old English; in Middle English blame or guilt, about 1175, and strife or dispute before 1200.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

The independent senses “dispute”, “accusation” and “guilt” are all obsolete.^[5] The word survives in the phrases for the sake of and for someone's sake, from about 1200,^[2][5] which were originally legal expressions and are probably modelled on Old Norse, as Old English has nothing like them.^[6][4][2] MWU explains for someone's sake as meaning at first “because of someone's guilt”.^[7] For God's sake is from the early 14th century.^[2] The word also hides in forsake, keepsake and namesake.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 725 – Old English sacu, in Beowulf.^[3]
• c. 1175 – guilt, blame.^[3]
• c. 1200 – for the sake of.^[2][5]
• early 14th century – for God's sake.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. (in for the sake of, for someone's sake) The benefit or good of someone or something.
2. Purpose or reason: for the sake of argument.
3. (in exclamations) Used to show impatience: for heaven's sake.

sake² drink

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈsɑː.ki/, /ˈsæk.i/, US /ˈsɑː.ki/^[1]

Etymology

The drink is borrowed from Japanese 酒 (sake, “alcohol, rice wine”).^[8][2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A Japanese fermented liquor made from rice: 1687 in the OED and Barnhart, spelt saque, in a translation of Thévenot's travels.^[5][3] MWU dates it to 1682.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The spelling sake is first recorded in 1878.^[3] The variant spellings saké and saki are also used.^[9]

Timeline

• 1687 – saque.^[5][3]
• 1878 – the spelling sake.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A Japanese alcoholic drink made from fermented rice.

Related words

• forsake
• keepsake
• namesake
• seek

Usage notes

In the dialects of Cheshire, Shropshire and the West Country a sake was also a land-spring, a wet spot where water oozes out.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)