English
embale
Embale comes from French emballer ‘to pack up’, from balle ‘bundle, packet’, and ultimately from Old French bale.
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400bale‘rolled-up bundle, packet of goods’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600balle‘large bundle, package’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentsame form‘bundle, packet’
- French, derivedc. 1600–presentemballer‘to pack up’
- Englishearliest quotation 1590embale
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400bale‘rolled-up bundle, packet of goods’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600balle‘large bundle, package’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentsame form‘bundle, packet’
- French, derivedc. 1600–presentemballer‘to pack up’
- Englishearliest quotation 1590embale
Earliest quotation: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book II, Canto III: “legs […] embayld in gilden buskins”.
Every English word from Old French bale
Today it means
verb To bind up; to pack, or bundle up into a pack.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Old French bale / embale