An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Pack

by Friedrich Kluge

Pack, masculine and neuter, ‘pack, bundle,’ to which late Middle High German backen, packen, ‘to pack up, load,’ is allied; it is connected with a Modern Teutonic and Romance classical the source of which has not yet been discovered; compare Dutch pak, Scandinavian pakke, Middle English packe, English pack; Italian pacco, French paquet, &c.; also Irish and Gaelic pac, Breton pak, which some regarded as the origin of the cognates, though others refer them, with greater probability, to Old Icelandic bagge, ‘burden.’ —

Pack, neuter, ‘rabble,’ is Low German, and is historically identical with Pack, ‘bundle.’