Etymology Dictionary

KIT (1),  a vessel of various kinds, a milk-pail, tub; hence, an outfit.   (O. Low G.)   'A kit, a little vessel, Cantharus;' Levins.   'Hoc mul[c]trum, a kytt;' Wright's Vocab. i. 217, col. 2.   In Barbour's Bruce, b. xviii. l. 168, we are told that Gib Harper's head was cut off, salted, put into 'a kyt,' and set to London.—O. Du. kitte, a tub (Kilian); Du. kit, 'a wooden can;' Sewel.   Cf. Norweg. kitte, a space in a room shut off by a partition, a large corn-bin in the wall of a house (Aasen); Swed. dial. kätte, a little space shut off by a partition (Rietz).   β. We find also A.S. cyte, a cell, which may be related; 'Cella, cyte;' Wright's Vocab. i. 85, col. 2.   If so, kit may be related to Cot; see Grin, i. 181.

KIT (2),  a small violin.  (L.,—Gk.)   'I'll have his little gut to string a kit with;' Beaum. and Fletcher, Philaster, Act v. sc. 4 (4th Citizen).   Abbreviation from A.S. cytere, a cittern, or cithern; which is borrowed from Lat. cithara.   See Cithern, Gittern.

KIT (3),  a brood, family, quantity.  (E.)   See Halliwell; a variant of Kith, q.v.