Etymologically
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bag

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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
  • 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