sac French · revision 17303

+ {{homograph|1|bag}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 1050, Vie de saint Alexis|origins=grc σάκκος}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /sak/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''sac''' ''m'' (plural sacs)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The bag is [[inh|la|saccus|t=sack, bag; strainer]], borrowed from [[grc|σάκκος|tr=sákkos|t=coarse cloth; sack]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(FEW|11, 20b) Rey traces the Greek word, a commercial term for packing cloth, to a Semitic language, probably Phoenician (compare [[hbo|שַׂק|tr=śaq]]); Bloch and Wartburg to a pre-Hellenic language of Cilicia.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) In late Latin the word also meant a coarse haircloth garment.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ Cognate with [[it|sacco]] and [[es|saco]]; the word also passed into Germanic: [[got|𐍃𐌰𐌺𐌺𐌿𐍃|tr=sakkus]], [[de|Sack]], [[en|sack]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It first meant a coarse cloth, in the ''Life of Saint Alexis'' (about 1050), and in the first half of the 12th century the poor garment of penance (Cambridge Psalter); the container open at the top is in Wace's ''Roman de Rou'' (1160–74).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Many phrases grew from the container: ''avoir la tête dans un sac'' “to be in complete ignorance” (Sévigné, 1675), ''prendre la main dans le sac'' “to catch red-handed” (Académie, 1798), the sack race ''course en sac'' (1842) and ''mettre dans le même sac'' “to lump together” (Zola, 1881).^(TLFi) ''Vider son sac'', to say what is on one's mind, is found in 1596.^(BHVF) A ''sac'' was also the bag holding the papers of a lawsuit (1478).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ At the end of the 14th century it was used for the belly, whence ''sac à vin'' “drunkard” (1485).^(DHLF 1992) In slang it has meant money (''avoir le sac'' “to be rich”, 1844, ''un sac'', a thousand francs, 1846, and later ten francs), and ''sac à puces'' a dog (1881).^(TLFi)^(Wiktionary) ''Donner son sac à quelqu'un'' “to dismiss” (1808) gave [[sacquer]].^(DHLF 1992) Kinds of bag multiplied: ''sac de nuit'' (1599), the infantryman's pack (1824), ''sac de couchage'' (1904), ''sac à main'' (1907) and ''sac à dos'' (1957).^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1050 – Coarse cloth, ''Life of Saint Alexis''.^(TLFi)

+ * First half of the 12th century – The garment of penance.^(TLFi)

+ * 1160–74 – The container, Wace.^(TLFi)

+ * 1478 – The bag of a lawsuit's papers.^(TLFi)

+ * 1485 – ''Sac à vin'' “drunkard”.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1675 – ''Avoir la tête dans un sac'', Madame de Sévigné.^(TLFi)

+ * 1798 – ''Prendre la main dans le sac''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1904 – ''Sac de couchage''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1907 – ''Sac à main'', Colette.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|bag]], [[m|en|sack]]: a container of flexible material, open at the top: ''un sac de toile'', ''un sac en plastique''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Le Robert)

+ # Its contents: ''un sac de blé''.^(Larousse)

+ # A [[m|en|handbag]] (''sac à main''); a rucksack (''sac à dos''); a sleeping bag (''sac de couchage'').^(Larousse)^(TLFi)

+ # ''(anatomy, biology)'' A sac or pouch: ''sac amniotique''.^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(dated slang)'' Ten francs; earlier, a thousand francs.^(Wiktionary)^(TLFi)

+ # In phrases: ''vider son sac'' (to get it off one's chest), ''mettre dans le même sac'' (to lump together), ''sac de nœuds'' (a tangle).^(Wiktionary)^(BHVF)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[sachet]]

+ * [[sachée]]

+ * [[sacquer]]

+ * [[ensacher]]

+ * [[bissac]]

+

+ {{homograph|2|plunder}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1400, mémoires du maréchal de Boucicaut|origins=gmh sakman}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /sak/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''sac''' ''m'' (plural sacs)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The plundering is [[bor|it|sacco]], used especially in “mettere a sacco” “to put to the sack” (14th century).^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Petit Robert 2007) “Sacco” is short for [[m|it|saccomanno|t=plunderer]], from [[gmh|sakman|t=pillager, brigand]], literally “sack man”, a compound of “sak” “sack” and “man” “man”, because plunderers carried their loot off in sacks.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005) Rey notes that the first element may go back to [[la|saccus]], but that “saccomanno” has also been derived from a Vulgar Latin verb of Germanic origin.^(DHLF 1992) Wiktionary instead derives the word from [[non|saka]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Bloch and Wartburg find it about 1400 in the memoirs of Marshal Boucicaut, a governor of Genoa: ''mettre la ville à sac''; the Grand Robert and the Petit Robert date it 1420, and Rey 1466–67, in ''metre en saq'' “to massacre”.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Petit Robert 2007)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ ''Mettre à sac'', to plunder a town thoroughly, is recorded from 1527; in the 19th century Balzac weakened it to “to turn upside down”.^(DHLF 1992) Middle French also took ''saquement'' (1422), ''saquemand'' (1596), “pillager” and “pillage”, directly from the German word.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1400 – ''Mettre la ville à sac'', Boucicaut.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1422 – ''Sacquement'' “pillager”.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1527 – ''Mettre à sac''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(literary)'' The [[m|en|plunder|alt=plundering]] and devastation of a captured town: ''le sac de Rome''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # ''Mettre à sac'': to [[m|en|ransack]], to loot.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[saccule]]

+ * [[sacoche]]

+ * [[saccager]]

+ * [[saccage]]

+ * [[la|saccus]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}