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Ramshackle
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I would be intrigued to know the origins of the word RAMSHACKLE. Any ideas all you clever ABers out there?
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Dictionary Today has this to say:
Definition: Rickety, run-down, in a state of disrepair; loosely constructed.
Usage: "Ramshackle" is another lexical orphan: no noun, no adverb, no verb, even though it originated in a verb. It most often refers to a building, such as "a ramshackle cabin in the woods." The reason the [s] of "ransackled" became [sh] in "ramshackle" is probably because the adjective is almost always used in conjunction with "shack." That noun is now incorporated into the adjective.
Suggested Usage: Because of its close association with "shack," the metaphoric possibilities of "ramshackle" have barely been explored: "Omar's ramshackle plan for escape from the camp stood no chance of success." You must know someone whose ramshackle appearance would overburden the epithet "casual." OK, your turn.
Etymology: Today's word has traveled a long way without having anything to do with shacks inhabited by rams. Rather, it is a back-formation of "ramshackled," a dialectal corruption of ranshackled, itself a corruption of ransackled, the past participle of ransackle "to ransack." This last word is the frequentative variant of Middle English ransaken "to pillage," the forefather of our "ransack," borrowed from Old Norse rannsaka "house search" comprising rann "house" + *saka "to search, seek." So it is no etymological accident that a ramshackle house looks as though it had been frequently ransacked and pillaged.
Definition: Rickety, run-down, in a state of disrepair; loosely constructed.
Usage: "Ramshackle" is another lexical orphan: no noun, no adverb, no verb, even though it originated in a verb. It most often refers to a building, such as "a ramshackle cabin in the woods." The reason the [s] of "ransackled" became [sh] in "ramshackle" is probably because the adjective is almost always used in conjunction with "shack." That noun is now incorporated into the adjective.
Suggested Usage: Because of its close association with "shack," the metaphoric possibilities of "ramshackle" have barely been explored: "Omar's ramshackle plan for escape from the camp stood no chance of success." You must know someone whose ramshackle appearance would overburden the epithet "casual." OK, your turn.
Etymology: Today's word has traveled a long way without having anything to do with shacks inhabited by rams. Rather, it is a back-formation of "ramshackled," a dialectal corruption of ranshackled, itself a corruption of ransackled, the past participle of ransackle "to ransack." This last word is the frequentative variant of Middle English ransaken "to pillage," the forefather of our "ransack," borrowed from Old Norse rannsaka "house search" comprising rann "house" + *saka "to search, seek." So it is no etymological accident that a ramshackle house looks as though it had been frequently ransacked and pillaged.
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