The word rucksack derives from the German ruck (back) and sack (pack)
It was introduced into the English language by Charles Boner. Boner’s first full time job was as tutor to the children of artist John Constable. Clearly well-connected, he was soon invited to Germany to take up a similar position with an aristocratic family and stayed there for the rest of his life. He learned German and became a journalist, the German correspondent to English and American newspapers. He also hobnobbed with the nobility, and became enough of a celebrity to be complimented by Charles Darwin, who commented that “You describe the grand scenery of the Tyrol most graphically”.
Boner’s claim to etymological fame comes from his reference to the rucksack in his 1853 book Chamois-Hunting in the Mountains of Bavaria, where he casually described that he “slung rucksack and rifle over my back and set off”. By this time the word had already been in usage in Germany for approximately 300 years.
Today the rucksack is considered standard equipment for many outdoor activities. Consistently popular with hikers, tourists, soldiers and schoolchildren, sales figures for the product in the United States alone are close to USD 150 million a year.
EVS Translations believes in clarity of communication in any language, and we were sorry to see the rucksack at the centre of a poorly planned marketing campaign in Germany, when a beverage manufacturer gave away free rucksacks to customers. They decided to make the product more fashionable by referring to it with the English phrase “body bag”. Unfortunately for them, the body bag is widely known as an item used for transporting human corpses. No matter how adventurous the German hiker might be, we doubt they’d relish the prospect of that particular trip.
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