SACK  , a large bag made of a coarse material such as is described under SACKING below . The word occurs with very little variation in all

European languages, cf . Gr . D•G,KKOS, Lat. saccus, Fr. sac, Span. saco, Du. zak, &c . All are borrowed from the Hebrew sag, properly a coarse stuff made of hair, hence a bag made of this material . Most etymologists attribute the widespread occurrence of the word to the story of Joseph and his brethren in Gen. xliv . The Hebrew word itself is' probably Egyptian, as is evidenced by the Coptic sok, Apart from its ordinary meaning, the word is used as a unit of dry measure, which has varied considerably at different times and places and for 'different goods; it is the customary 'British measure for coals, potatoes, apples and some other goods, and is equivalent to three bushels . From the end of the 17th to the middle of the 18th century the sack or " sacque " was a fashionable type of gown for women, having a long flowing loose back—hanging in pleats from the neck . It is still used as a tailor's or dressmaker's term for a loose straight-back coat . The Fr. sac meant also pillage, plunder, whence saccager, to plunder a town, especially after it had been taken by assault or after a siege . There is no doubt that it is an extension of " sack," a bag, with a reference to the most obvious receptacle for booty . The slang expression " to give the sack," " to get the sack," of a person who has been turned out of a situation or been given notice to leave is an old French proverbial expression: Cotgrave gives On luy a donne sa sac et ses quilles,;" he hath his passport given him, he is turned out to grazing, said of a servant whom his master hath put away." The New English Dictionary finds the expression also in 15th-century Dutch .

It remains to distinguish the name,

familiar from English literature of the 16th and 17th centuries, of a . Spanish wine, which was of a strong, rough, dry kind (in Fr. vin sec, whence the name), and therefore usually sweetened and mixed with spice and mulled or " burnt." It became a common name for all the stronger white wines of the South .