pak Dutch · revision 37362

+ {{infobox|confidence=unknown|formation=inherited|attested=1159–64, Old Dutch (in Latin context)}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /pɑk/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''pak''' ''n'' (plural pakken, diminutive pakje n)^(Wiktionary)

+ Middle Dutch also had a feminine ''pake'', recorded once in Utrecht.^(Franck & Van Wijk 1912)^(MNW)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|dum|pac|t=bundle, baggage]], [[inh|odt|pac|t=bundle of goods]], a word at first found only in Dutch and Low German.^(EWN)^(ONW)^(Wiktionary) It is [[gml|pak]] in Middle Low German too, from which [[de|Pack]] and late [[non|pakki]] were borrowed; [[enm|packe|t=bundle, bale]] (modern [[en|pack]]) was probably borrowed from Middle Dutch through the Flemish wool and cloth trade.^(EWN)^(De Vries 1971) The trade also carried the word into the Romance and Celtic languages: [[it|pacco]], [[fr|paquet]], [[ga|pac]].^(EWN)^(De Vries 1971)^(Franck & Van Wijk 1912)

+

+ Its origin is unknown.^(EWN)^(Van Veen & Van der Sijs 1997) Kroonen reconstructs it as [[gem-pro|*pakkô|alt=*pakka-]], but calls it a word of the westernmost Indo-European languages with an obscure prehistory, related irregularly to [[grc|φάκελος|tr=phákelos|t=bundle]] and [[la|bāiulus|t=porter]], and to [[non|baggi|t=pack, bundle]] with ⟨b⟩.^(Kroonen 2013)^(Wiktionary) The Philippa dictionary notes the group of words with ⟨bag-⟩ and the same sense, such as [[en|bag]] and [[fro|bague]] (see [[bagage]]), and finds their link with the ⟨pak⟩ words unclear.^(EWN) 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.^(De Vries 1971)^(De Vries & De Tollenaere 2004|278)^(EWN)

+

+ ==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.^(EWN)^(ONW) In 1252 the Middle Dutch phrase ''een pac zweerde'' is a pack of swords.^(EWN)

+

+ ==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''.^(EWN) 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.^(EWN) 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.^(EWN) The sense “parcel sent by post” appears in 1659.^(EWN)

+

+ A suit of clothes was called ''pak'' from about 1600, probably first a bundle of matching clothes sold together.^(EWN)^(Van Veen & Van der Sijs 1997)^(Van der Sijs 2001) The general sense “amount” is seen in ''een pak slaag'', a beating (1779, 1807), and ''een dik pak sneeuw'' (1913).^(EWN) The verb [[pakken]] was formed from the noun very early.^(EWN)

+

+ The suit sense went into Sranan Tongo ''paki'' and, through Dutch, into Indonesian [[m|id|pakaian]] “clothing”.^(Van der Sijs 2010)^(Wiktionary) In Belgium ''het pak'' is also the peloton of a cycle race, after French ''le paquet''.^(De Coster 1999)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1159–64 – ''Pac'' “bundle of goods” in a Latin toll list.^(EWN)^(ONW)

+ * 1244 – Middle Dutch ''pac'' “bundle”.^(Van Veen & Van der Sijs 1997)^(Van der Sijs 2001)

+ * 1252 – ''Een pac zweerde'', a pack of swords.^(EWN)

+ * 1328–50 – ''Pach'' “baggage”, in ''sach op pach''.^(EWN)

+ * 1511 – ''Pak'' “burden”.^(EWN)

+ * 1611 – ''Pak'' “suit of clothes”.^(EWN)^(Van Veen & Van der Sijs 1997)^(Van der Sijs 2001)

+ * 1620 – ''Een pack van 't hert'', a weight off the heart.^(EWN)

+ * 1779 – ''Een goed pak'', a good beating.^(EWN)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|package]], a box or carton in which something is packed, sold and kept: ''een pak melk''.^(Van Dale 2014)^(ANW)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A [[m|en|suit]], a set of outer clothes, especially a man's jacket and trousers: ''Hij draagt op kantoor altijd een pak.''^(Van Dale 2014)^(ANW)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A quantity forming a whole, a layer or load: ''Er ligt een flink pak sneeuw op het dak.''^(Van Dale 2014)^(ANW)

+ # A [[m|en|bundle]], things tied or wrapped together.^(ANW)^(WNT)

+ # A burden, a load to be carried.^(ANW)^(EWN)

+ # ''(Belgium, cycling)'' The [[m|en|peloton]].^(De Coster 1999)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[pakje]]

+ * [[pakken]]

+ * [[pakhuis]]

+ * [[lastpak]]

+ * [[badpak]]

+ * [[zwempak]]

+ * [[maatpak]]

+ * [[mantelpak]]

+ * [[trainingspak]]

+ * [[werkpak]]

+ * [[confectiepak]]

+ * [[apenpak]]

+ * [[boevenpak]]

+ * [[matrozenpak]]

+ * [[bruidspak]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[pakket]]

+ * [[bagage]]

+ * [[en|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.^(Van Dale 2014)^(EWN) The abbreviation ''PAK'' (de) stands for ''polycyclische aromatische koolwaterstoffen'', a group of carcinogenic substances.^(Van Dale 2014)^(De Coster 1999)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}