bag

Pronunciation

• IPA: /bæɡ/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English bagge, probably borrowed from Old Norse baggi (“pack, bundle”) or a similar Scandinavian word,^[2][3][4] though its origin is uncertain.^[5][6] In some senses it may be from Old French bague, Provençal baga “baggage”, which are also from Germanic.^[2][7][3] The OED rejects a connection with other Germanic words for “bellows, belly” and finds a Celtic origin untenable.^[2] The verb is from the noun.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A small sack: probably before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle,^[3] about 1200 in Etymonline and about 1230 in the OED.^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

A money bag or purse is from 1393,^[8] and in poetry bags were bagpipes from about 1275.^[8] The verb meant “to swell out like a bag” about 1400 and “to put in a bag” in the early 15th century,^[2] about 1412 in Barnhart.^[3] From the hunter's game bag (late 15th century) came “to kill game” (1814) and “to seize, steal” (1818),^[2] and probably in the bag, “certain”, American English from 1922.^[2][5] To be left holding the bag, “to be cheated”, is attested by 1793.^[2] Loose folds of skin under the eyes are bags by 1867.^[2] As disparaging slang for a woman it is from 1924 in modern use.^[2] A person's area of interest, as in not my bag, is from 1964 in African-American vernacular, from the jazz sense “category”.^[2][8]

Timeline

• before 1200 – a sack.^[3]
• c. 1275 – bags, bagpipes.^[8]
• c. 1412 – verb, to put in a bag.^[3]
• 1793 – left holding the bag.^[2]
• 1814 – verb, to kill game.^[2]
• 1867 – bags under the eyes.^[2]
• 1922 – in the bag.^[2]
• 1964 – one's interest or style.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A container of paper, plastic, cloth or leather, open at the top, for carrying things.
2. A handbag or piece of luggage.
3. A loose fold of skin under the eye.
4. (informal) Something one is interested in or good at: jazz isn't my bag.
5. (offensive) An unpleasant or unattractive woman.

Verb

1. To put into a bag.
2. To kill or catch game.
3. (informal) To get or take: bag a good seat.
4. To hang loosely; to bulge.

Word family

• bagful
• bagger
• baglike

Related words

• baggage
• baggy
• bagpipe
• handbag
• bagman

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press