Etymograph

English

corky

Corky comes from English cork ‘stopper’, and goes back to Spanish corcho ‘cork’.

  1. Spanishc. 1500–presentcorcho‘cork’
  2. Middle Dutchc. 1150–1500curc
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cork
  4. English1500–presentsame form‘stopper’
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1603–1606corky

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Spanishc. 1500–presentcorcho‘cork’
  2. Middle Dutchc. 1150–1500curc
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cork
  4. English1500–presentsame form‘stopper’
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1603–1606corky

Earliest quotation: c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of King Lear: “Bind fast his corky arms.”

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’

cortex, cortical, 5 more

Another origin of corky

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)kort-ek-sreconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcortex‘the bark of a tree’uncertain
  3. Mozarabicmodern*kórčouncertain
  4. Spanishc. 1500–presentcorcho‘cork’
  5. Middle Dutchc. 1150–1500curc
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cork
  7. English1500–presentsame form‘injure by a blow’
  8. Englishtodaycorky

Today it means

adj Of wine, contaminated by a faulty or tainted cork.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Spanish corcho / corky

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