An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Sarg

by Friedrich Kluge

Sarg, masculine, ‘coffin,’ from Middle High German sarc (genitive sarkes) and sarch (genitive sarches), masculine, ‘coffin, vault, grave,’ also generally ‘shrine, receptacle,’ Old High German saruh, sarch, masculine, ‘sarcophagus, coffin’; compare Dutch zerk, ‘gravestone.’ Romance has a corresponding class in Modern French cercueil, ‘coffin,’ and its earlier cognates. The ordinary derivation from σαρκοφάγος, ‘sarcophagus,’ was repudiated as early as Lessing, because Sarg in Middle High German ‘signified in countless passages a receptacle generally, a water vessel, a trough, a shrine for idols or saints’; perhaps the Greek term has helped to determine the Modern High German meaning and the spelling of the word with g. As yet nothing definite has been discovered concerning this probably Teutonic word. It may be connected with Old Icelandic serkr, ‘shirt,’ since the Aryan root serg in Lithuanian sérgėti (Old Slovenian strěgą, strěšti), ‘to watch over, guard,’ has a general signification (Sarg, ‘receptacle’).