Rummage

Once again, random stumbling through the AHD has provided me with a simple word that has a very interesting etymology. Rummage can be a noun or a verb. In general, it means either the act of or performing the act of searching for something. Formally, the AHD says it means "to search thoroughly by handling, turning over or disarranging the contents of" or "a thorough search among a number of things." Here's where I think it get interesting. The other noun definition states that it is "a confusion of miscellaneous articles."

According to the AHD, the word was once "romage" in the English language. This meant the act of packing cargo. This came from the French word "arrumage," which came from Old French "arumer" --to stow. This word came from Old Provencal "arumar." The break down of this word results in "a-" which means to and probably "run." "Run" is a word of Germanic origin that meant a ship's hold.

So basically, this word was a naughtical term that had to deal with storing cargo. From the second definition of the noun, it is obvious that at some point the word was used to describe a pile of random things (it reminded them of a bad arrangment of cargo, perhaps?). From here, one can see that one had to search through a rummage to find something. As is common for humans, the noun became a verb of actually performing the action, and the result is the word we know and love today. Yay.