also pack-saddle, "saddle for supporting packs on the back of a mount," late 14c., pakke sadil; from pack (n.) + saddle (n.).
Entries linking to packsaddle
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.
saddle n.
Middle English sadel, from Old English sadol "contrivance secured to the back of a horse, etc., as a seat for a rider," from Proto-Germanic *sathulaz (source also of Old Norse söðull, Old Frisian sadel, Dutch zadel, zaal, German Sattel "saddle"), from PIE root *sed- (1) "to sit" + Germanic suffix *-þra, used to form neutral names of tools.
Extended to various things resembling or functioning as a saddle. Figurative phrase in the saddle "in an active position of management" is attested from 1650s. Saddle-horse "horse for riding" is from 1660s. Saddle-stitch (n.) is from bookbinding (1887).