Etymograph

English

pack

Pack comes from Middle English pak ‘bundle’, from Old English *pæcca and/or Middle Dutch pak, from Proto-Germanic *pakkô ‘bundle’, of unknown origin.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*pakkô‘bundle, pack’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*pakkōreconstructed
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500pak‘a bundle or package’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1854pack

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*pakkô‘bundle, pack’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*pakkōreconstructed
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500pak‘a bundle or package’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1854pack

Earliest quotation: 1854, Henry David Thoreau: “We do not ask him to make up his…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰask- ‘bundle’

bast, 2 more

through Proto-Celtic *baskis ‘bundle, load’

basin, basket, baste, 2 more

Another origin of pack

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰask-‘bundle’uncertain
  2. Proto-Celticc. 1300–800 BCE*baskis‘bundle, load’uncertain
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*pakkô‘bundle’uncertain
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*pakkōuncertain
  5. Old Dutchc. 500–1150*pakkouncertain
  6. Old Englishc. 450–1150*pæccauncertain
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500pak‘a bundle or package’
  8. Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500pakken‘to pack’
  9. Englishtodaypack

Today it means

noun A bundle made up and prepared to be carried; especially, a bundle to be carried on the back, but also a load for an animal, a bale.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *pakkô / pack

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