rancelv.

Etymology: Origin uncertain. Perhaps < the unattested Norn reflex (in sense ‘search’) of the early Scandinavian noun represented by Icelandic reynsla probation, experience, trial (early 18th cent.), Faroese roynsla experience, Norwegian (chiefly Nynorsk) røynsle attempt, endeavour, fact, (now chiefly) experience < the Scandinavian base of Old Icelandic reyna to try, to experience, to search, pry, inquire into ( < the same base as Old Icelandic raun trial, test, experience; perhaps ultimately < the same Indo-European base as ancient Greek ἐρευνᾶν to search, seek for, inquire after) + the Scandinavian base of Old Icelandic -sla , suffix forming nouns from verbs; compare -els suffix. In English regional (north-western) use probably the reflex of a borrowing of the early Scandinavian word represented by the Scandinavian forms listed above. Compare rancelman n.Derivation from a noun is unusual, but no entirely satisfactory alternative explanation has been proposed; immediate derivation from rancel- (in rancelman n.), reanalysed as a verb, is at first attractive, but does not explain the appearance of the word in English regional (north-western) use, where rancelman is apparently unattested. An alternative etymology as an alteration of ransack v., perhaps after ranshackle v. (although this is first attested slightly later), is unconvincing.