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The Shambles

A list of 54 words by ruzuzu.

About

From the American Heritage Dictionary:

"A place or situation referred to as a shambles is usually a mess, but it is no longer always the bloody mess it once was. The history of the word begins innocently enough with the Latin word scamnum, "a stool or bench serving as a seat, step, or support for the feet, for example.” The diminutive scamillum, "low stool,” was borrowed by speakers of Old English as sceamol, "stool, bench, table.” Old English sceamol became Middle English shamel, which developed the specific sense in the singular and plural of "a place where meat is butchered and sold.” The Middle English compound shamelhouse meant "slaughterhouse,” a sense that the plural shambles developed (first recorded in 1548) along with the figurative sense "a place or scene of bloodshed” (first recorded in 1593). Our current, more generalized meaning, "a scene or condition of disorder,” is first recorded in 1926."

Comments

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  • ruzuzu Yes... I'll add them here. May 24, 2010

  • milosrdenstvi There's a York in England... May 24, 2010

  • reesetee And one in Pennsylvania. :-) May 24, 2010

  • ruzuzu There's a York in Nebraska, too, though I think most of the packing plants are in Lexington, Schuyler, and Omaha. May 22, 2010

  • bilby York! May 22, 2010