PACK (apparently from the

See also:

• ROOT (late O.E. rot, adopted from Scand., cf. Norw. and Swed. rot, Dan. rod; the true O.E. word was wyrt, plant, represented in Ger. Wurz or Wurzel; the ultimate root is the same in both words, and is seen in Lat. radix)
• ROOT, ELIHU (1845– )

root pak-, paq-, seen in

See also:

• LAT

Lat. pangere, to fasten; cf. " compact ")  , primarily a bundle or parcel of goods securely wrapped and fastened for transport . The word, in this sense, is chiefly used of the bundles carried by pedlars . It was in early use, according to the New English Dictionary, in the wool trade, and may have been introduced from the Netherlands . As a measure of weight or quantity the term has been in use, chiefly locally, for various commodities, e.g. of wool, 240 lb, of gold-leaf 20 books of 25 leaves each . In a transferred sense, a " pack " is a collection or gathering of persons, animals or things; and the verb means generally to gather together in a compact body . " Pack-ice " is the floating ice which covers wide areas in the polar seas, broken into large pieces which are driven (packed) together by wind and current so as to form practically a continuous sheet . " Packet," a small parcel, a diminutive of " pack," was first confined in meaning to a parcel of despatches carried by a post, especially the state despatches or " mail "; and " packet " properly " packet-boat," was the name given to the vessels which carried these state despatches .