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Origin and history of packet

packet(n.)

mid-15c., paket, "a little package or parcel" (late 12c. as a surname), "in earliest use applied to a parcel of letters or dispatches, and esp. to the State parcel or 'mail' of dispatches to and from foreign countries" [OED], from Middle English pak "bundle" (see pack (n.)) + diminutive suffix -et; perhaps modeled on Anglo-French pacquet (Old French pacquet), which ultimately is a diminutive of Middle Dutch pak or some other continental Germanic word cognate with the English one. A packet boat (1640s) originally was one that carried mails from country to country or port to port, then generally a vessel starting at regular dates and appointed times. In data transmission, packet-switching is attested from 1971.

also from mid-15c.

Entries linking to packet

pack(n.)

early 13c., pak, pake, "a bundle or package (of cloth, merchandise, etc.)," also "a bag or purse for carrying things," probably from a Low German word (compare Middle Dutch pac, pack "bundle," Middle Low German pak, Middle Flemish pac, attested from late 12c.) and taken into English from the wool traders in Flanders; or possibly from Old Norse pakki. All are of unknown origin. Italian pacco is a Dutch loan word; French pacque probably is from Flemish.

Especially a bundle enclosed in a wrapping and bound fast with cords. Meaning "set of persons" (usually of a low character) is from late 14c. and is older than sense of "group of instinctively herding hunting animals" (mid-15c.). Extended to "complete set of playing cards" (1590s), floating ice (1791), bundled cigarettes (1865), and submarines (1943).

Meaning "knapsack on a frame" is attested from 1916. Pack of lies is attested from 1763. Meaning "a person of low character" (usually with naughty) is by 1520s.

-et

word-forming element, originally a diminutive suffix but not now always felt as one, Middle English, from Old French -et (fem. -ete; Modern French -et, -ette), from Vulgar Latin *-ittum/*-itta (source also of Spanish -ito/-ita, Italian -etto/-etta), of unknown origin. The French forms are reduced to -et in English, but later borrowings of French words in -ette tend to keep that ending.

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    bundle
    early 14c., "bound collection of things," from Middle Dutch bondel, diminutive of bond, from binden "to bind," or perhaps a merger of this word and Old English byndele "binding," from Proto-Germanic *bund- (source also of German bündel "to bundle"), from PIE root *bhendh- "to bin
    parcel
    late 14c., "a portion or part of something" (a sense preserved in the verb and in the phrase parcel of land, which is from c. 1400), from Old French parcele "small piece, particle, parcel," and directly from Medieval Latin parcella, from Vulgar Latin *particella, extended form (v
    wisp
    early 14c., "handful or bundle of hay, grass, etc.," used for burning or cleaning or as a cushion; perhaps from an unrecorded Old English word, cognate with Norwegian and Swedish visp "wisp," of unknown origin; sometimes said to be connected with whisk or with Middle Low German a
    message
    c. 1300, "a communication transmitted via a messenger, a notice sent through some agency," from Old French message "message, news, tidings, embassy" (11c.), from Medieval Latin missaticum, from Latin missus "a sending away, sending, dispatching; a throwing, hurling," noun use of
    deck
    mid-15c., dekke, "covering extending from side to side over part of a ship," from a nautical use of Middle Dutch dec, decke "roof, covering," from Proto-Germanic *thakam (source also of thatch (n.)), from PIE root *(s)teg- "to cover." Sense extended early in English from "coverin
    aggregation
    early 15c., aggregacioun, originally in medicine (Chauliac), "formation of a pustule," from Medieval Latin aggregationem (nominative aggregatio), noun of action from past-participle stem of Latin aggregare "collect, bring together," from ad "to" (see ad-) + gregare "to collect in
    accumulation
    late 15c., "that which is heaped up, an accumulated mass," from Latin accumulationem (nominative accumulatio) "a heaping up," noun of action from past-participle stem of accumulare "to heap up, amass," from ad "to," here perhaps emphatic (see ad-), + cumulare "heap up," from cumu
    collection
    late 14c., "action of collecting, practice of gathering together," from Old French collection (14c.), from Latin collectionem (nominative collectio) "a gathering together," noun of action from past-participle stem of colligere "gather together" (see collect). Especially of money
    boat
    "small open vessel (smaller than a ship) used to cross waters, propelled by oars, a sail, or (later) an engine," Middle English bot, from Old English bat, from Proto-Germanic *bait- (source also of Old Norse batr, Dutch boot, German Boot), which is possibly from PIE root *bheid-
    mail
    "post, letters," c. 1200, "a traveling bag, sack for keeping small articles of personal property," a sense now obsolete, from Old French male "wallet, bag, bundle," from Frankish *malha or some other Germanic source, from Proto-Germanic *malho- (source also of Old High German mal

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