{"id":3262,"date":"2024-03-09T15:23:11","date_gmt":"2024-03-09T15:23:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/?p=3262"},"modified":"2024-03-09T15:26:33","modified_gmt":"2024-03-09T15:26:33","slug":"adventures-in-etymology-shambling-shambles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/?p=3262","title":{"rendered":"Adventures in Etymology &#8211; Shambling Shambles"},"content":{"rendered":"<div itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/AudioObject\"><meta itemprop=\"name\" content=\"Adventures in Etymology &amp;#8211; Shambling Shambles\" \/><meta itemprop=\"uploadDate\" content=\"2024-03-09T15:23:11+00:00\" \/><meta itemprop=\"encodingFormat\" content=\"audio\/mpeg\" \/><meta itemprop=\"duration\" content=\"PT2M03S\" \/><meta itemprop=\"description\" content=\"In this Adventure in Etymology we\u2019re looking into the origins of the word shamble (and shambles).\n\n\nThe Shambles in York\n\nTo shamble means to walk while shuffling or dragging the feet, and a shamble is one of a succession of niches or platforms, one ...\" \/><meta itemprop=\"contentUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/shamble.mp3\" \/><meta itemprop=\"contentSize\" content=\"2.1\" \/><div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_7593\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-3262-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/shamble.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/shamble.mp3\">https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/shamble.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><\/div><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\" style=\"margin-bottom: 1px !important;\">Podcast: <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/shamble.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/?powerpress_pinw=3262-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/shamble.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"shamble.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p><p>In this Adventure in Etymology we\u2019re looking into the origins of the word <strong>shamble<\/strong> (and <strong>shambles<\/strong>).<\/p>\n<p><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/alex_harris\/327003278\/in\/photolist-uTYFy-npddTT-26R6nUN-7vqdsa-DtMaj-DtL8x-9tbKYN-34QEcB-2gzb3vG-2huLCaz-6P9vXJ-N5Tom-2ksbboA-pem8QQ-4syrQV-5GAcic-5qJWdq-uMopMA-jgjgA4-bTFzZa-3GUBZQ-MX4XSt-MXpb57-NMoSt4-4KAmYb-83zR3-kBZ1CS-2wVB5L-h9eQ8X-kBYCWq-2T2Yvr-cEb3cQ-4KAnks-6TYYDW-6cwGA-6vGv2p-5dSKfE-6TUZ3P-9Dxav7-73qvj-2gF5u5d-83zR1-8uypPE-4Kw6NF-83A13-4kmcA-EDTbZF-25hzoSv-6d7VAx-35khiW\" title=\"Shambles\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/139\/327003278_e2a9d1a295_z.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" alt=\"Shambles\"\/><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<em>The Shambles in York<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>To shamble<\/strong> means to walk while shuffling or dragging the feet, and <strong>a shamble<\/strong> is one of a succession of niches or platforms, one above another, to hold ore which is thrown successively from platform to platform, and thus raised to a higher level in a mine.<\/p>\n<p>It comes from Middle English <em>schamel \/ schambyll<\/em> [\u02c8\u0283a\u02d0m\u0259l] (footstool), from Old English <em>s\u010bamol<\/em> [\u02c8\u0283\u0251.mol] (stool), from Proto-West Germanic <em>*skamil<\/em> (stool, bench), from Latin <em>scabellum<\/em> (footstool, a kind of percussion instrument played with the foot), from <em>scamnum<\/em> (stool, step, bench, ridge), from PIE <em>*skab\u02b0-<\/em> (to hold up) [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/shambles#English\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>Words from the same roots include <strong>scanno<\/strong> (seat, bench, stool) in Italian, <strong>escano<\/strong> (bench, footstool) in Portuguese, <strong>scaun<\/strong> (chair, seat, stool, throne, residence, butcher\u2019s block) in Romanian, <strong>Schemel<\/strong> (footstool) in German, and <strong>iskemle<\/strong> (chair) in Turkish [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/scamnum#Latin\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>In the plural, <strong>shambles<\/strong> means a scene of great disorder or ruin, a great mess or clutter, a scene of bloodshed, carnage or devastation, or a slaughterhouse, and it used to mean a butcher\u2019s shop. It comes from the same roots as the singular <strong>shamble<\/strong> [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/shambles#English\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s a street in York in the north of England called <strong>The Shambles<\/strong> (see the photo above), that was once home to many butchers. They originally displayed their wares on stalls or benches known as <em>shamels<\/em> or <em>schambylls<\/em>, which gave the street its name. There are several similarly-named streets in other parts of the UK and Ireland [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Shambles\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>Incidentally, a German equivalent of <strong>shamble<\/strong> is <strong>schlurfen<\/strong> [\u02c8\u0283l\u028a\u0250\u032ffn\u0329], which means to shuffle (walk without picking up one\u2019s feet). It\u2019s related to the English word <strong>slurp<\/strong> [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/schlurfen#German\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>Now it\u2019s time to <strong>shamble<\/strong> off. I made a bit of an <strong>omnishambles<\/strong> of this post &#8211; I wrote most of it, then accidentally deleted half of it and had to rewrite it as I couldn\u2019t retrieve the lost bits. I hope it\u2019s not too <strong>shambolic<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>You can also listen to this podcast on: <a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/gb\/podcast\/radio-omniglot\/id1432641094\">Apple Podcasts<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/music.amazon.com\/podcasts\/8b1b1d1b-b39e-4277-b28d-479a3b5043b3\/radio-omniglot\">Amazon Music<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/tunein.com\/podcasts\/Education-Podcasts\/Radio-Omniglot-p1154145\/\">TuneIn<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.podchaser.com\/podcasts\/radio-omniglot-716327\">Podchaser<\/a>, <a href=\"<a href=\"https:\/\/podbay.fm\/p\/radio-omniglot\">Podbay<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/podtail.com\/da\/podcast\/radio-omniglot\/\">Podtail<\/a> and other pod places.<\/p>\n<p>If you would like to support this podcast, you can make a donation via <a href=\"https:\/\/www.paypal.com\/uk\/cgi-bin\/webscr?cmd=_flow&amp;SESSION=aLjPfXL-vP_1gQ_U23Iz8_hSWLlhzLHPMFZrt32dIEfG8htoNFLYaPoWkv8&amp;dispatch=5885d80a13c0db1f8e263663d3faee8def8934b92a630e40b7fef61ab7e9fe63\">PayPal<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/omniglot\">Patreon<\/a>, or <a href=\"http:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/donations.htm\">contribute to Omniglot in other ways<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Radio Omniglot podcasts are brought to you in association with <a href=\"https:\/\/blubrry.com\/services\/podcast-hosting\/?code=omniglot\">Blubrry Podcast Hosting<\/a>, a great place to host your podcasts. Get your first month free with the promo code <strong>omniglot<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.japanesepod101.com\/member\/go.php?r=759259&amp;i=b0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/images\/banners\/banner_japanesepod.jpg\" alt=\"The Fastest Way to Learn Japanese Guaranteed with JapanesePod101.com\" width=\"630\" height=\"83\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I also write about words, etymology and other language-related topics on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/\">Omniglot Blog<\/a>, and I explore etymological connections between Celtic languages on the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/\">Celtiadur<\/a> blog.<\/p>\n<div align=\"center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/my.kualo.com\/uk\/go\/00572\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.kualo.com\/rewards\/uk-unlimited-728x90.gif\" width=\"728\" height=\"90\" border=\"0\"\nalt=\"Unlimited Web Hosting - Kualo\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/AudioObject\"><meta itemprop=\"name\" content=\"Adventures in Etymology &amp;#8211; Shambling Shambles\" \/><meta itemprop=\"uploadDate\" content=\"2024-03-09T15:23:11+00:00\" \/><meta itemprop=\"encodingFormat\" content=\"audio\/mpeg\" \/><meta itemprop=\"duration\" content=\"PT2M03S\" \/><meta itemprop=\"description\" content=\"In this Adventure in Etymology we\u2019re looking into the origins of the word shamble (and shambles).\n\n\nThe Shambles in York\n\nTo shamble means to walk while shuffling or dragging the feet, and a shamble is one of a succession of niches or platforms, one ...\" \/><meta itemprop=\"contentUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/shamble.mp3\" \/><meta itemprop=\"contentSize\" content=\"2.1\" \/><div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_7594\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-3262-2\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/shamble.mp3?_=2\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/shamble.mp3\">https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/shamble.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><\/div><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\" style=\"margin-bottom: 1px !important;\">Podcast: <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/shamble.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/?powerpress_pinw=3262-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/shamble.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"shamble.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p><p>In this Adventure in Etymology we\u2019re looking into the origins of the word shamble (and shambles). The Shambles in York To shamble means to walk while shuffling or dragging the feet, and a shamble is one of a succession of niches or platforms, one above another, to hold ore which is thrown successively from platform [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[98,20,56,24,12,4,50,58,55,1,27,59,119,116,127],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventures-in-etymology","category-english","category-etymology","category-german","category-italian","category-language","category-latin","category-middle-english","category-old-english-aenglisc","category-podcast","category-portuguese","category-proto-indo-european","category-proto-west-germanic","category-romanian-limba-romana","category-turkish-turkce"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3262"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3262\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3268,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3262\/revisions\/3268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}