rucksack

Etymology

It is borrowed from German Rucksack,^[2][3][4][5] a word recorded from the 16th century in the south of the German-speaking area, in Switzerland and in Austria, at first as ruggsack, and in standard German only from the second half of the 19th century.^[2][6] Its first part is Ruck, a regional variant of Rücken (“back”),^[2][4][7][8] which goes back to Old High German hrukki and is related to ridge.^[9][5][10] Its second part is Sack (“bag, sack”),^[2][3][4] from Old High German sac, from Latin saccus, and so akin to sack.^[9][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A bag carried on the back by shoulder straps: 1853, in C. Boner's book on chamois hunting in Bavaria.^[2][5] Barnhart and Etymonline date the word to 1866,^[4][3] and Dictionary.com to 1890–95.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The first record comes from a book on hunting in the Bavarian mountains,^[2] and Weekley (1921) still called it a tourist word, comparing alpenstock.^[6] The Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins groups it with knapsack and haversack, other bags whose names came from German.^[12] The spelling rücksack follows the combining form of the standard German noun.^[2] The bag is still associated with walkers and climbers,^[2][7] and in current use the word is chiefly British: Collins gives backpack as the American and Canadian name.^[13][1]

Timeline

• 1853 – a bag carried on the back by walkers and climbers.^[2][5] Barnhart and Etymonline have 1866.^[4][3]
• early 20th century – rucksacked, carrying a rucksack.^[7]
• late 20th century – rucksackful, as much as a rucksack will hold.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A strong bag carried on the back by two shoulder straps, used especially by walkers and climbers; a knapsack or backpack: She packed a rucksack for the climb.^[2][13][5]

Related words

• ridge
• sack
• knapsack
• haversack

Usage notes

The 1989 edition of the OED gave the unassimilated pronunciation /ˈrʊksæk/;^[2] the current OED gives /ˈrʌksak/ first for British English and /ˈrəkˌsæk/ first for American English, each beside a form with /ʊ/.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
7. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
11. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
12. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins