The above name is the true one of the material under discussion and is
derived from the Latin. Quercus; Italian or esculent oak sacred to
Jupiter. Liber; binding or surrounding; hence surrounding of the oak or
bark of the oak, sacred to Jupiter.
“QUERCUS SUBER”
This, its definite name, undoubtedly conveyed some particular meaning to
the ancients, but research fails to reveal any definition of the word
“Suber.”[1] “The word is so far a puzzle to philologists. Forcellini in
his great dictionary of Latin says that it is perhaps connected with the
Greek word (συφαρ = suphar), which means ‘an old wrinkled skin, as, for
instance, the cast-off skin of a snake.’ If this derivation be sound,
the Romans, in using the word, thought at the outset primarily of the
rough bark of the tree and then of the tree as a whole. Forcellini
quotes also an opinion of Isidorus Hispalensis upon the longer form of
‘Suber,’ i.e., Suberies, to the effect that this form is derived from
‘sus’ (swine) and ‘edo’ (eat) because swine eat the acorns. But this is
a purely popular etymology. I find too that Scaliger derived it from the
verb ‘Subio’ ‘to come up from below’ because cork will not stay down in
water. Vaniçek, in his Etymologisches Wörterbuch, classes ‘Suber’ among
the dunkel words, and in the new and most elaborate Historische
Grammatic of Stolz the word is not mentioned at all in the treatment of
roots. Even Otto Keller in his work on Etymologies has nothing to say
about it.”
[1] Letter from Prof. Nelson G. McCrea of Columbia University, June
12, 1910, to writer.
“CORK”
This name is as much of a mystery as the word “Suber” and its origin can
only be guesswork. In the opinion of the writer it is the broadening of
the first syllable of the word “Quercus” and has no bearing upon its
usage, composition or lineage. Some dictionaries give other derivations,
such as the mutilation of the Spanish “Corcho” or the French “Calk,” and
others that it is taken from the Latin Cortex,[2] meaning the outer
shell or husk, the external part, but they do not present any convincing
argument.
[2] According to “Spanish Dictionary” of Lopes et Bensley; Cortex: “La
Parte exterior del Arbol.” Arbol in botany meaning “a tree.”
The meaning of the word “cork” as applied to-day is derived from the
Arabic “Kalafa,” to stop the seams of ships; the Latin “Stipo,” to
suppress; the French, “Calfeutrer,” to stop. But these do not bear upon
the origin of the word “cork,” as in all probability the word was coined
independent of these sources, but as we apply the word to a definite
act, that of “stopping,” the definition as given above is applicable,
although the proper name would be “stopper,” regardless of what material
it is made. It is therefore plain that the word “cork” is a Latin
phonetic abbreviation, for it appears to be the only logical root for
the word.
The cork tree is called “Alcornoque” in Castilian language; Surn in
Castalan; Sobreiro, Gallician; Suvi y Sioure in provincialism; Chêne
Liège in French; Keonge fernam or only fernam, in Argeline; Kork-baum or
Korkeiche in German; and, as before stated, cork in English.[3]
[3] Consul Schenck’s Report.