debacle

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*bak-
2. Latin · derived frombaculum“rod, staff used for support”
3. Vulgar Latin · derived from*bacculare
4. French · borrowed fromdébâcle
5. English todaydebacle

From French débâcle, from débâcler (“to unbar; unleash”) from prefix dé- (“un-”) + bâcler (“to dash, bind, bar, block”) [perhaps from unattested Middle French and Old French *bâcler, *bacler (“to hold in place, prop a door or window open”)], from Vulgar Latin *bacculare, from Latin baculum (“rod, staff used for support”), from Proto-Indo-European *bak-. Also attested in Old French desbacler (“to clear a harbour by getting ships unloaded to make room for incoming ships with lading”) and in Occitan baclar (“to close”). The hypothesised derivation from Middle Dutch *bakkelen (“to freeze artificially, lock in place”), a frequentative of bakken (“to stick, stick hard, glue together”) no longer seems likely due to the lack of attestation of *bakkelen in Middle Dutch and by it having the limited meaning of "freeze superficially" in Dutch.

Words from the same roots

First known use, by meaning

• from early 19th c. An event or enterprise that ends suddenly and disastrously, often with humiliating consequences.