coracle, a small boat made of material stretched over a wooden frame, a word I only know from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, is from Welsh corwgl, cwrwgl, from Middle Irish curach. According to An Etymological Glossary of Proto-Celtic, the Old Irish word curach is from Proto-Celtic *koruko- "(leather) boat". And there's a note:
A connection of these words with Proto-Indo-European *(s)koro- 'leather' (OCS kora, Lat. corium, Pokorny 939) appears probable.
*(s)koro- is the o-grade form of 4. *(s)ker, *(s)kerǝ-, *(s)krē- "to cut" (938-947). Looking at the relevant entry in Pokorny, it's not at all clear to me if Pokorny thinks Proto-Celtic *koruko- is from this root or not. I'll pretend that he does, so that I can connect coracle to the cool word scaramouch, the commedia dell'arte character. The English word is from French Scaramouche, from Italian Scaramuccia, a jocular use of scaramuccia meaning "skirmish". This was borrowed from a source akin to the Proto-Germanic extended form *skerm- "to protect", which is from our Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker. skirmish is from the same Proto-Germanic word, thru Old French eskermir "to fight with a sword". *(s)ker in its extended o-grade form *kort- became Latin cortex "bark", ie, "that which can be cut off". This was borrowed into English to refer to the outer layer of an internal organ, in particular the brain.
2 comments:
Do you think the Spanish word "caracoa", meaning "small barge", is of related origin?
I'd guess not, but I'd have to do some reading to say for sure.
Post a Comment