1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Plunder

PLUNDER, to rob, to pillage, especially in war. The word came into English usage directly from Ger. plundern (derived from a substantive Plunder meaning "household stuff," bedclothes, clothing, &c.), particularly with reference to the pillaging of the Thirty Years' War. Thomas May (History of the Long Parliament, 1647; quoted in the New English Dictionary) says: “Many Tounes and Villages he (Prince Rupert) plundered, which is to say robb'd, for at that time first was the word plunder used in England, being borne in Germany.” The New English Dictionary's earliest quotation is from the Swedish Intelligencer (1632).