trunk English · revision 10450

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1440|origins=fro tronc|origins=la truncus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /tɹʌŋk/ ''(UK)''; /tɹʌŋk/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is Middle English trunke, tronke, from Anglo-French trunke, [[bor|fro|tronc|t=alms box; trunk of a tree or body]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) from Latin truncus, the trunk of a tree or of the body, a wooden block, originally an adjective, mutilated, cut off, of uncertain origin.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A box or case: 1440, in the ''Promptorium Parvulorum'';^(Barnhart 1988) the mid-15th century in Etymonline.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The box sense is said to come from boxes made from tree trunks,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Cresswell 2021) though Barnhart thinks simple resemblance more likely,^(Barnhart 1988) and Etymonline suggests the body as the case of the organs.^(Etymonline) English took the tree and body senses from Old French in the late 15th century: the main stem of a tree from 1490 and the torso from 1494.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) A pipe or tube is from 1548.^(Barnhart 1988) From this, perhaps influenced by [[trump]], a trumpet, came the elephant's trunk, about 1565.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) Slang for the human nose is by 1700.^(Etymonline) ''Trunk hose'', covering the body as distinct from the limbs, is from the 1630s.^(Etymonline) A ''trunk line'' of a railway is by 1843 and of the telephone by 1889.^(Etymonline) The luggage compartment of a car, from trunks fixed to the back of early models, is American from 1930.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) ''Trunks'', short breeches, are from the 19th century.^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1440 – a box.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1490 – a tree trunk.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1494 – the torso.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1565 – an elephant's trunk.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1843 – a trunk line.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1930 – the boot of a car (US).^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The main woody stem of a [[tree]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # The body of a person or animal apart from the head and limbs; the torso.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # The long flexible nose of an [[elephant]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A large strong case or box for clothes and belongings.^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(US, Canada)'' The luggage compartment of a car.^(Collins 2023)

+ # A main line or channel, as of a railway, telephone system or blood vessel.^(AHD)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[trunkful]]

+ * [[trunkless]]

+ * [[trunkfish]]

+ * [[trunk call]]

+ * [[Saratoga trunk]]

+ * [[trunk line]]

+ * [[brachiocephalic trunk]]

+ * [[nerve trunk]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[truncate]]

+ * [[trunks]]

+ * [[trump]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ In Yorkshire and northern dialect, a trunk was a trump in card games.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}