satchel

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English sachel, also sacle and sechel,^[2] borrowed from Anglo-Norman sachel, also sacel,^[3][4][5][6] from Latin saccellus (“small bag”),^[3][6][7][8] a diminutive of saccus (“bag”) with the suffix -ellus,^[3][7] the source of sack.^[9][5] Barnhart and Etymonline take the Latin source as Late Latin saccellum (“money bag, purse”), itself a diminutive of sacculus,^[5][4] and Etymonline allows that the English word came partly straight from Late Latin.^[4] The OED dates the Anglo-Norman word to the early 13th century,^[3] the Anglo-Norman Dictionary to 1121–25, already with the senses "small sack", "sachet" and "purse".^[10] The Latin word was also borrowed early into German, giving Old High German seckil and German Säckel.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A small bag, wallet or purse: before 1362, in a Norfolk cellarer's roll,^[3][2] and about 1384 in the Wycliffite Bible (Luke 10:4).^[2][11] Barnhart dates the word to about 1340.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English a sachel was any small bag or purse, and figuratively the belly.^[2] Its use for a bag in which schoolchildren carry their books arose in the mid 16th century,^[9] and Shakespeare's "whining schoolboy, with his satchel" in As You Like It (1600) reflects it;^[9][12] Johnson (1755) still defined the word as a little bag, "commonly a bag used by schoolboys to carry their books".^[13] The OED now describes a rectangular bag of leather or another strong material with a flap and usually a shoulder strap.^[3] A verb, to put into a satchel, is recorded from 1611, and its use for bagging game dates to 1814.^[3] In 20th-century American slang satchel was a prison (1932), the vagina (1936) and the buttocks (1962).^[14]

Timeline

• before 1362 – a small bag or purse.^[3][2]
• before 1475 – figurative, something likened to a satchel, a store of something.^[3]
• mid 16th century – a bag for school books.^[9]
• 1611 – verb, to put into a satchel.^[3]
• 1814 – verb, to bag game; later to secure something (now rare).^[3]
• 1932 – American slang, a prison.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small bag, often of leather or canvas, with a flat bottom and usually a shoulder strap, used especially for carrying school books: She stuffed her homework into her satchel.^[15][12][3]
2. Something likened to a satchel; a store of something.^[3]

Verb

1. To put into a satchel.^[3]

Word family

• satcheled
• satchelful

Related words

• saccular
• saccule
• sachet
• sack

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
10. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
15. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins