A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 1937 (DOST Vol. I).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1400-1546
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Cark, Kark, n. [ME. cark (c 1300), AF. kark, karke.] A certain quantity or weight of some commodities.According to the Liber Albus 223 the ‘karke’ weighed three or four hundredweight. 14.. Acts I. 305/2.
Of karkys or balys [L. de carca scilicet bale] of peper, comyn, alom, gynger, setwell, almondis 14.. Ib.
Of a hundreth karkes of kellis … twa peniis 1474 Acts Lords Auditors 31/1.
Twa tun of wad, j cark of alum, j poke of mader 1496 Halyb. 57.
A kark of alom, cost 38 s.; Som of this cark with the costis 2 li. 1497 Ib. 72; etc.
A cark off alm, cost 58 s., weand a cark & 34 li. 1546 Edinb. B. Rec. II. 126.
Mader to be sawld in polks; allum to be sawld in cark
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"Cark n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 10 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/cark_n>
