pail

The story

1. Latin · derived frompatella“small pan, shallow dish, platter”
2. Old French · derived frompaielle“frying pan, warming pan; a liquid measure”
3. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*bak-“peg, club”
4. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*pagil
5. Old English · inherited frompæġel“wine vessel, container for liquids, pail; a liquid measure”
6. Middle English · inherited frompayle“bucket, pail, milking pail”
7. English todaypail

From Middle English payle (“bucket, pail, milking pail”), of uncertain origin. Likely from Old English pæġel (“wine vessel, container for liquids, pail; a liquid measure”), from Proto-West Germanic *pagil, from Proto-Indo-European *bak- (“peg, club”), equivalent to peg + -le. Compare West Frisian pegel (“liquid measure, fourth of a litre, half-pint”), German Pegel (“level of liquid, level”), Middle Dutch pegel (“half-pint”), Danish pægl (“half-pint”). Doublet of peil. Alternatively from Old French paielle (“frying pan, warming pan; a liquid measure”), from Latin patella (“small pan, shallow dish, platter”), diminutive of patina (“broad shallow pan, stewpan”). Perhaps a conflation of both.

Words from the same roots