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The Learning Kingdom's Cool Word of the Day for May 13, 1999
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shambles [n. SHAM-bulz]
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A shambles (the noun is always singular, despite the seemingly plural
ending) is a scene of great disorder or chaos, and to shamble is to
walk with an unsteady, shuffling gait.
Although the two words seem to have unrelated meanings, they actually
emerged from the same root. Both stemmed originally from the Latin
scamnum (a stool or bench for the feet), and its diminutive, scamillum
(a low stool).
Old English had sceamol (a stool, bench, or table), which became
Middle English shamel (a place where meat is butchered or sold),
presumably in connection with the distinctive tables used in such a
place. A slaughterhouse became known as a shamelhouse, and a
"shambles" was at first a place where there was great bloodshed or
carnage. Only in the early 20th century did the sense lighten to
"great disorder," losing the bloody quality.
As for "shamble," the word seems to have originally been a reference
to the rickety, bent or bowed legs of the tables in the shamelhouses.
To shamble was to walk with bowed, unsteady legs.
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