ransack: [13] Ransack means etymologically ‘search a house’. It was borrowed from Old Norse rannsaka, a compound verb formed from rann ‘house’ (a relative of Old English ærn ‘house’, which underlies English barn) and -saka ‘search’ (a relative of English seek). A now defunct derivative was ransackle or ranshackle, from which we get modern English ramshackle [19]. => barn, ramshackle, seek[ransack etymology, ransack origin, 英语词源]