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Origin and history of trunk

trunk(n.1)

[main part of something, as distinguished from its appendages] mid-15c., "box, case," from Anglo-French trunke, tronke, variants of Old French tronc "alms box in a church," also "stem of a tree from which the branches spring; trunk of the human body; wooden block" (12c.), also from Medieval Latin truncus.

Both are from Latin truncus "trunk of a tree; trunk of the body; wooden block," a word of uncertain origin, probably originally "mutilated, cut off."

The post-classical development of the meaning "box, case with a lid or top" is likely to be from the notion of the body as the "case" of the organs. Especially a case for conveying clothes, etc. on a journey. The sense of "luggage compartment of a motor vehicle" is from 1930 (compare boot (n.1)).

English acquired the "woody main stem of a tree" and "torso of a human or animal body" senses from Old French in late 15c.

Extended to blood vessels, etc.; the railroad trunk line is attested by 1843; the phrase in reference to telephone lines is by 1889. Trunk-hose (1630s) apparently so called in reference to covering the body, as distinguished from the limbs.

also from mid-15c.

trunk(n.2)

"long snout of an elephant" or other animal, 1560s, apparently from trunk (n.1), perhaps from confusion with trump (n.2) "trumpet." Early uses of the word are in reference to the appendages' ability to hold water. Slang use in reference to the human nose is by 1700.

also from 1560s

Entries linking to trunk

boot(n.1)

"covering for the foot and lower leg," early 14c., from Old French bote "boot" (12c.), with corresponding words in Provençal, Spanish, and Medieval Latin, all of unknown origin, perhaps from a Germanic source. Originally of riding boots only.

From c. 1600 as "fixed external step of a coach." This later was extended to "low outside compartment used for stowing luggage" (1781) and hence the transferred use in Britain in reference to the storage compartment in a motor vehicle (American English uses trunk (n.1)).

Boot-black "person who shines boots and shoes" is from 1817; boot-jack "implement to hold a boot by the heel while the foot is drawn from it" is from 1793. Boot Hill, U.S. frontier slang for "cemetery" (1893, in a Texas panhandle context) probably is an allusion to dying with one's boots on. An old Dorsetshire word for "half-boots" was skilty-boots [Halliwell, Wright].

trump(n.2)

[trumpet], c. 1300, trompe, "trumpet-like horn," from Old French trompe "long, tube-like musical wind instrument" (12c.), cognate with Provençal tromba, Italian tromba. All are considered to be probably from a Germanic source of imitative origin (compare Old High German trumpa, Old Norse trumba "trumpet").

Also extended to "one who plays a trump, a herald" (late 13c. as a surname). In figurative use by 1520s as "one who or that which summons or proclaims" (trump of fame, etc.).