Etymologically
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cargo

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈkɑːɡəʊ/ (UK); /ˈkɑɹɡoʊ/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Spanish cargo (“load, burden”), also carga,[2][3][4] from cargar (“to load”), from Late Latin carricare (“to load on a cart”), from carrus (“wagon”) (see car).[2][3][5] The French cognate gave English charge.[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The freight of a ship: 1657.[2][7][4]

Semantic evolution

Barnhart notes that the Middle English word for a ship's load was charge.[2] An obsolete use as a bill of lading is from 1678.[7] The goods carried by an aircraft or other vehicle are a later extension.[8][9] The cargo cult of the South Pacific is from 1949,[3] and cargo pants, named after the large military pockets, from 1977.[3] An unrelated cargo was a term of contempt (1602).[7]

Timeline

  • 1657 – a ship's freight.[2][7]
  • 1678 – a bill of lading (obsolete).[7]
  • 1949 – cargo cult.[3]
  • 1977 – cargo pants.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. Goods carried by a ship, aircraft or vehicle; freight.

Word family

  • cargo cult
  • cargo liner
  • air cargo
  • cargo pants

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin