English
kit
Kit comes from Middle Dutch kitte ‘a wooden vessel made of hooped staves’.
- Middle Dutchc. 1150–1500kitte‘a wooden vessel made of hooped staves’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500kyt
- Englishearliest quotation 1818kit
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Middle Dutchc. 1150–1500kitte‘a wooden vessel made of hooped staves’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500kyt
- Englishearliest quotation 1818kit
Earliest quotation: 1818, Reports, Great Britain. Parliament. House of Lords: “Do you know the proportion between ten and twelve…”
The story
The further etymology is unknown.uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain. Perhaps from Proto-Germanic *kitjō-, *kut-, which would be related to the root of Dutch kot (‘ramshackle house’), itself of non-Indo-European origin. The transfer of meaning to the contents of a soldier's knapsack dates to the late 18th century, extended use of any collection of necessaries used for travelling dates to the first half of the 19th century. The further widening of the sense to a collection of parts sold for the buyer to assemble emerges in American English in the mid 20th century.
Linked words
through Middle Dutch kitte ‘a wooden vessel made of hooped staves’
Another origin of kit
- Germanc. 1650–presentkitte
- Englishtodaykit
Today it means
noun A circular wooden vessel, made of hooped staves.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle Dutch kitte / kit