Barrel
Middle English: from Old French baril, from medieval Latin barriclus ‘small cask’.
wiktionary
From Middle English barel, from Anglo-Norman baril, Old French baril, bareil(“barrel”), of uncertain origin. An attempt to link baril to Old French barre(“bar, bolt”) (compare Medieval Latin barra(“bar, rod”)) via assumed Vulgar Latin *barrīculum meets the phonological requirement, but fails to connect the word semantically. The alternate connection to Frankish *baril, *beril or Gothic 𐌱𐌴𐍂𐌹𐌻𐍃( bērils, “container for transport”), from Proto-Germanic *barilaz(“barrel, jug, container”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer-, *bʰrē-(“to carry, transport”), is more plausible as it connects not only the form of the word but also the sense; equivalent to bear + -le. Compare also Old High German biril(“jug, large pot”), Luxembourgish Bärel, Bierel(“jug, pot”), Old Norse berill(“barrel for liquids”), Old English byrla(“barrel of a horse, trunk, body”). More at bear.
etymonline
barrel (n.)
"cylindrical vessel or cask, generally bulging in the middle and made of wooden staves bound by hoops," c. 1300, from Old French baril "barrel, cask, vat" (12c.), with cognates in all Romance languages (Italian barile, Spanish barril, etc.), but of unknown origin. Also a measure of capacity of varying quantity. Meaning "metal tube of a gun" is from 1640s. Barrel-roll (n.) in aeronautics is from 1920. To be over a barrel figuratively, "in a helpless or vulnerable condition," is by 1914 and might suggest corporal punishment.
barrel (v.)
mid-15c., "to put in barrels," from barrel (n.). Meaning "to move quickly" is 1930, American English slang, perhaps suggestive of a rolling barrel. Related: Barreled; barreling.
