packsaddle

Etymology

It is formed from English pack + saddle,^{[1][2][3][4][5]} and Middle English had it as pakke sadil.^[2][3][4] The first element is apparently from Middle Dutch pac (“bundle”), of unknown further origin,^[1][2] and the second is from Old English sadol.^[2] Compare Dutch pakzadel and German Packsattel.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A saddle made to carry a pack or packs: 1398, in a record printed in the Testamenta Eboracensia,^[1] in line with the late 14th-century date of Etymonline and the 14th-century date of Merriam-Webster Unabridged.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Johnson (1755) defines it as a saddle on which burdens are laid, and quotes Shakespeare's Coriolanus on stuffing "an asses packsaddle" with beards.^[5] The name was briefly applied to a packsaddle roof in 1848,^[1] and a verb, to carry on a packsaddle, also figuratively, is recorded from 1912.^[1]

Timeline

• 1398 – a saddle for carrying a pack.^[1]
• 1848 – a packsaddle roof (rare, obsolete).^[1]
• 1912 – verb, to transport on a packsaddle.^[1]

Meanings

Noun

1. A saddle built to hold loads on the back of a pack animal: The muleteer checked each packsaddle before the climb.^[3][1][5]

Verb

1. To carry on a packsaddle; also figuratively.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
6. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org