The story
- Proto-Indo-European · derived from*(s)kel-“make noise, yell”
- Old High German · derived fromskeltan“scold”
- Middle English · inherited fromskelten
- English todayhelter-skelter
In form a reduplication (similar to hurry-scurry and harum-scarum, both with initial /h-/ and /sk-/); perhaps based on Middle English skelten ("to hasten; to raise an alarm"), or maybe related to Old High German skeltan (“scold”) from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kel- (“make noise, yell”), employed as a fossil word.
Words from the same roots
Proto-Indo-European*(s)kel- all →
chalicecallowskellyaskile
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.