Sõna korts päritolu
The etymology of Estonian korts ‘wrinkle, fold, crease’

Summary/Abstract: The Estonian word korts ‘wrinkle, fold, crease’, dial. also ‘tuck, ruffle’, is considered to be a descriptive Finnic stem with possible cognate language equivalents Karelian kurttša, kurttšu ‘wrinkle, fold’, Ludic kurtšištuda ‘to shrivel’, Veps kurtšištuda ‘to double up, to wrinkle up one’s forehead’. The vowel correspondence of Estonian korts and the mentioned Finnic words is unusual: in general, the equivalent of the Finnic u in Estonian is u rather than o. Besides the word korts with a back vowel in the first syllable, there is the word körts in Estonian dialects, meaning the same, with a front vowel in the first syllable. The word körts is considered to be etymologically connected with the word kört ‘skirt’, < Middle Low German schorte, schörte ‘a short garment, worn around the hips, apron, part of armour, covering the lower part of the body’. It is not plausible that the words korts and körts are of different origin and their similarity is accidental. Several words in Estonian (dialects) have variants with front and back vowels in parallel. This is characteristic primarily of onomatopoetic stems, but such variability also occurs in some Low German loanwords in Estonian dialects, e.g. vooder ~ vööder ‘lining’, proovima ~ pröövima ‘to try, to attempt, to test’. In the latter the variety is based on different phonetic variants (without vs. with metaphony) in the donor language. Thus the etymologies of the words korts and körts must be observed together. Formally and semantically, the word körts may have developed from the Low German loanword kört ‘skirt’ as it has been suggested. The suffix-like element -s has been added in Estonian, like in some other words, cf. e.g., nööp and nöps ‘button’. In this case, the word korts could have developed from another phonetic variant of the Low German word. The parallel variants of another derivative of the stem kört, the words körtsik and kortsik ‘skirt’ may indicate the variable pronunciation of the Low German source. There is another possible explanation as well. While examining the etymologies of the words korts and körts, attention has to be paid to the dialectal and colloquial verbs with stems kört(s)- and kort(s)-: körtmä ‘to frill, to ruffle, to pleat’, körtsima ‘to ruck, to crease; to sew negligently or unskilfully’, kortsima ‘to patch up, to mend clothes; to sew quickly and unskilfully; to frill, to ruffle, to pleat’. These verbs are probably borrowed from Middle Low German schorten ‘to shorten; to tighten the clothes with a belt etc., to draw together, to knot; to wrinkle up one’s nose’. Again, the different quality of the vowel in the first 160 syllable in Estonian could reflect the variable pronunciation in Low German. The suffix-like element -s is added in Estonian, like in some other verbs, cf. e.g., tippima and tipsima ‘to trip’. The words korts and körts can be derived from the verbs kortsima and körtmä, körtsima. Considering semantics, ‘wrinkle, fold; tuck, ruffle’ is the result of ‘rucking, frilling, mending (clothes), unskilful sewing’. Note that in dialects there is also the derivative kört ‘tuck, ruffle’ (homonymous with kört ‘skirt’) from the verb körtmä. Thus the word korts (and dial. körts) probably originates from the Middle Low German verb schorten, borrowed into Estonian also as (dial. and colloquial) verbs kortsima, körtmä, körtsima. There has been some mutual influence between the words korts, körts and kortsik, körtsik, derived from the word kört ‘skirt’ as well.

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