Etymologically
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pak

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Pronunciation

Forms

pak n (plural pakken, diminutive pakje n)[1] Middle Dutch also had a feminine pake, recorded once in Utrecht.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle Dutch pac (“bundle, baggage”), inherited from Old Dutch pac (“bundle of goods”), a word at first found only in Dutch and Low German.[4][5][1] It is Middle Low German pak in Middle Low German too, from which German Pack and late Old Norse pakki were borrowed; Middle English packe (“bundle, bale”) (modern English pack) was probably borrowed from Middle Dutch through the Flemish wool and cloth trade.[4][6] The trade also carried the word into the Romance and Celtic languages: Italian pacco, French paquet, Irish pac.[4][6][2]

Its origin is unknown.[4][7] Kroonen reconstructs it as Proto-Germanic *pakka-, but calls it a word of the westernmost Indo-European languages with an obscure prehistory, related irregularly to Ancient Greek φάκελος (phákelos, “bundle”) and Latin bāiulus (“porter”), and to Old Norse baggi (“pack, bundle”) with ⟨b⟩.[8][1] The Philippa dictionary notes the group of words with ⟨bag-⟩ and the same sense, such as English bag and Old French bague (see bagage), and finds their link with the ⟨pak⟩ words unclear.[4] De Vries thinks of a borrowing from a pre-Germanic substrate language, while De Vries and De Tollenaere also mention an early loan from Altaic, comparing Old Turkic ⟨bag⟩ “bundle”, which the Philippa dictionary thinks unlikely given how little the word is spread in Germanic.[6][9][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first found in a Latin toll list of 1159–64, de sarcina que dicitur pac, “for a bundle that is called pac”, as a unit of trade goods.[4][5] In 1252 the Middle Dutch phrase een pac zweerde is a pack of swords.[4]

Semantic evolution

At first pak meant mainly a large packing unit of merchandise; later any packed unit of a fixed, not round shape could be called pak or pakje.[4] From the bundle of goods came “baggage, a traveller's pack”, as in sach op pach, “with bag and baggage”, in a rhymed chronicle of 1328–50.[4] As something carried, the word came to mean “burden”: met Venus packe gheladen, laden with Venus's load (1511), and een pak van mijn hart, a weight off my heart (1620); the compound lastpak and the phrase bij de pakken neerzitten, to sit down like a tired pack animal, keep this sense.[4] The sense “parcel sent by post” appears in 1659.[4]

A suit of clothes was called pak from about 1600, probably first a bundle of matching clothes sold together.[4][7][10] The general sense “amount” is seen in een pak slaag, a beating (1779, 1807), and een dik pak sneeuw (1913).[4] The verb pakken was formed from the noun very early.[4]

The suit sense went into Sranan Tongo paki and, through Dutch, into Indonesian pakaian “clothing”.[11][1] In Belgium het pak is also the peloton of a cycle race, after French le paquet.[12]

Timeline

  • 1159–64 – Pac “bundle of goods” in a Latin toll list.[4][5]
  • 1244 – Middle Dutch pac “bundle”.[7][10]
  • 1252 – Een pac zweerde, a pack of swords.[4]
  • 1328–50 – Pach “baggage”, in sach op pach.[4]
  • 1511 – Pak “burden”.[4]
  • 1611 – Pak “suit of clothes”.[4][7][10]
  • 1620 – Een pack van 't hert, a weight off the heart.[4]
  • 1779 – Een goed pak, a good beating.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A package, a box or carton in which something is packed, sold and kept: een pak melk.[13][14][1]
  2. A suit, a set of outer clothes, especially a man's jacket and trousers: Hij draagt op kantoor altijd een pak.[13][14][1]
  3. A quantity forming a whole, a layer or load: Er ligt een flink pak sneeuw op het dak.[13][14]
  4. A bundle, things tied or wrapped together.[14][15]
  5. A burden, a load to be carried.[14][4]
  6. (Belgium, cycling) The peloton.[12]

Word family

  • pakje
  • pakken
  • pakhuis
  • lastpak
  • badpak
  • zwempak
  • maatpak
  • mantelpak
  • trainingspak
  • werkpak
  • confectiepak
  • apenpak
  • boevenpak
  • matrozenpak
  • bruidspak
  • pakket
  • bagage
  • English pack

Usage notes

Dat is een pak van mijn hart expresses relief, bij de pakken neerzitten is to lose heart, and van hetzelfde laken een pak krijgen is to get the same treatment.[13][4] The abbreviation PAK (de) stands for polycyclische aromatische koolwaterstoffen, a group of carcinogenic substances.[13][12]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Franck, Johannes; Wijk, Nicolaas van (1912), Franck's Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 2nd ed., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
  3. ^ Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Philippa, Marlies; Debrabandere, Frans; Quak, Arend; Schoonheim, Tanneke; Sijs, Nicoline van der (2003–2009), Etymologisch woordenboek van het Nederlands, 4 vols., Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press; online via etymologiebank.nl
  5. ^ a b c Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org
  6. ^ a b c Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
  7. ^ a b c d Veen, P. A. F. van; Sijs, Nicoline van der (1997), Etymologisch woordenboek: de herkomst van onze woorden, 2nd ed., Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Lexicografie
  8. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  9. ^ Vries, Jan de; Tollenaere, Félicien de (2004), Etymologisch woordenboek: onze woorden, hun oorsprong en ontwikkeling, 23rd ed., Utrecht: Het Spectrum, p. 278
  10. ^ a b c Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen
  11. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
  12. ^ a b c Coster, Marc de (1999), Woordenboek van neologismen: 25 jaar taalaanwinsten, Amsterdam: Contact
  13. ^ a b c d e Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
  14. ^ a b c d e Algemeen Nederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; anw.ivdnt.org
  15. ^ Vries, Matthias de; Winkel, L. A. te, et al. (1882–1998), Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal, 29 vols., 's-Gravenhage / Leiden: Nijhoff / Sijthoff / SDU; supplement 2001; gtb.ivdnt.org