English
cork
Cork comes from Middle English cork ‘oak bark, cork’, and goes back to Middle Dutch curc.
- Middle Dutchc. 1150–1500curc
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cork‘oak bark, cork’
- Englishearliest quotation 1908same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Middle Dutchc. 1150–1500curc
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cork‘oak bark, cork’
- Englishearliest quotation 1908same form
Earliest quotation: 1908, Edwin George Pinkham, Fate's a fiddler: “I confess my confidence was shaken by these actions,…”
A compound of *(s)ker- ‘to cut off, sever’ + *(s)kert- ‘to cut’
Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- ‘to cut off, sever’
Proto-Indo-European *(s)kert- ‘to cut’
Linked words
through Latin cortex ‘the bark of a tree’
Today it means
noun The dead protective tissue between the bark and cambium in woody plants, with suberin deposits making it impervious to gasses and water.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle Dutch curc / cork