shackle

shackle · noun¹

1. Proto-Indo-European · inherited from*skeg-
2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*skakulaz“shackle”
3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*skakul
4. Old English · inherited fromsċacul
5. Middle English · inherited fromshakel
6. English todayshackle

From Middle English shakel, schakkyl, schakle (“a fetter, shackle; coupling used to connect a plough or wagon to a draft chain”), from Old English sċacul, sċeacel, sċeacul (“fetter, shackle”), from Proto-West Germanic *skakul, from Proto-Germanic *skakulaz (“shackle”), possibly from *skakaną (“to shake; to swing; to escape”), from Proto-Indo-European *skeg-, *skek- (“to shake; to stir”). However, this is doubted by the Oxford English Dictionary because *skeg-, *skek- lack the meaning of attaching or fastening. Etymology 1 sense 3 (“length of cable or chain equal to 12½ or 15 fathoms”) derives from the original distance between two shackles (etymology 1 sense 1.1.3) connecting lengths of cable or chain together. Cognates * Danish skagle (“carriage trace”) * Dutch schakel (“clasp; link; shackle”) * German Schäckel (“shackle”) * Icelandic skökull (“carriage pole”) * Swedish skakel (“loose shaft of a carriage”)

shackle · verb²

1. Middle English · inherited fromschakelen
2. English todayshackle

From Middle English schakelen, schakkylen (“(also figurative) to put (someone) in shackles; to protect (legs) with greaves”), from shakel, schakkyl, schakle (noun) (see etymology 1) + -en (suffix forming the infinitives of verbs).

shackle · noun, verb³

From shack (“variant of shake”), shake (verb) + -le (suffix forming agent nouns; frequentative suffix forming verbs).