Etymograph

English

bag

Bag comes from Middle English bagge, from Old Norse baggi ‘bag, pack, bundle’, of uncertain origin.

  1. Old Norsec. 800–1350baggi1‘bag, pack, satchel, bundle’
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bagge1‘a fabric container’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1602bag1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English bag
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1602, William Warner, The Sixt Booke. Chapter XXX.: “VVell, Venus ſhortly bagged, and ere long vvas Cupid…”.

Lineage

  1. Old Norsec. 800–1350baggiWiktionary, English bag‘bag, pack, satchel, bundle’
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500baggeWiktionary, English bag‘a fabric container’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1602bagWiktionary, English bag. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1602, William Warner, The Sixt Booke. Chapter XXX.: “VVell, Venus ſhortly bagged, and ere long vvas Cupid…”

The story

Inherited from Middle English bagge, from Old Norse baggi (‘bag, pack, satchel, bundle’) (whence also Old French bague (‘bundle, package, sack’)); related to Old Norse bǫggr (‘harm, shame; load, burden’), of uncertain origin.uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with bag, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Old French bague

through Middle English bagge ‘a fabric container’

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Today it means

noun A soft container made out of cloth, paper, thin plastic, etc. and open at the top, used to hold food, commodities, and other goods.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “bag”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Old Norse baggi / bag