Where does “meatpacking” come from?
Meatpacking is a compound of English meat (from Middle English mete, from Latin meta) and English -ing (from Middle English -ing), ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European meh₂d- meaning to measure or distribute.
meatpacking (English): The slaughter and further processing of animals...
Definitions
- The slaughter and further processing of animals...
Ancestry of “meatpacking”, step by step
meatpacking traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English packing
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | packing | present participle of pack; The action of the... |
| 2 | English | pack | A bundle made up and prepared to be carried;... |
| 3 | Middle English | pakken | To pack; to put into a pack or container; To... |
| 4 | Middle English | -en | Denotes the past participle form when attached to... |
| 5 | Old English | -en | mæġþ + API → mæġden; cocc + API → cycen, cicen;... |
| 6 | Old Norse | -inn | Used to create adjectives from nouns, meaning... |
| 7 | Proto-Norse | -īna- | — |
| 8 | Proto-Germanic | -īnaz | -en |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | -iHnos | Creates adjectives of materials |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | -no- | adjectival suffix |
via English meat
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | meat | The flesh of an animal used as food; A type of... |
| 2 | Middle English | mete | Food, nourishment or comestibles; that which is... |
| 3 | Middle English | bake mete | Any kind of cooked food which has a pastry... |
| 4 | Middle English | baken | To bake; to cook in an oven; usually used of... |
| 5 | Old English | bacan | to bake |
| 6 | Proto-West Germanic | bakan | to bake |
| 7 | Proto-Germanic | bakaną | to bake |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | bʰeh₃g- | to bake, to roast, to fry |