Etymology Dictionary

OAKUM,  tow, old ropes teased into loose hemp.  (E.)   Spelt ockam in Skinner, ed. 1671.   Spelt oakam in Dampier's Voyages, v. i. p. 295, an. 1686 (R.)—A. S. ácumba, tow, in a gloss (Leo); cf. 'Stuppa, ǽcumbe,' Ælfric's Gloss., in Wright's Vocab. i. 40, col. 2.   [The Lat. stuppa means 'tow.']   β. The sense is 'that which is combed out;' the prefix is the usual A. S. á-, cognate with G. er-, Goth. us-; see A- (4), prefix.   The rest of the word is related to A. S. cemban, to comb, and camb, a comb; see Comb.   Mr. Wedgwood says:  'O. H. G. ácambi, tow; M. H. G. hanef-ácamb, the combings or hards of hemp, tow, what is combed out in dressing it; as áswinc, the refuse swingled out in dressing flax.   "Stuppa pectitur ferreis hamis, donec omnis membrana decorticatur;" Pliny, xix. I. 3, cited by Aufrecht in Philological Transactions.'   Holland's translation of the passage is as follows:  'Now that part thereof which is vtmost and next to the pill [peel] or rind, is called tow or hurds, and it is the worst of the line or flaxe, good for little or nothing but to make lampe-match or candle-wiek; and yet the same must be better kembed with hetchell teeth of yron, vntill it be clensed from all the grosse barke and rind among;' vol. ii. p. 4. [†]

ADDENDA

That the orig. sense of A.S. ácumba was 'that which is combed away,' appears from the fact that it occurs as a gloss to L. putamen, i.e. that which is cut away; Mone, Quellen, p. 407.