ransack

The verb is derived from Middle English ransaken (“to examine, investigate; to rob, plunder, steal; to search, seek; to treat roughly, mistreat”), from Old Norse rannsaka (“to search a house (especially for stolen goods)”), from rann (“house”) (from Proto-Germanic razną (“dwelling, house”), from Proto-Indo-European h₁reh₁- (“to rest; quiet”)) + saka, an ablaut variant of sœkja, sǿkja (“to look for, search, seek”) (from Proto-Germanic sōkijaną (“to look for, seek”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European seh₂g- (“to follow; to seek out, trace”)). Verb verb sense 1.2 (“to search (someone, or a place) thoroughly in order to steal something”), verb sense 1.3 (“to search for and steal (something) as plunder”), and verb sense 2.2 (“to search for and steal things”) is probably influenced by sack (“to pillage, to plunder”). The noun is derived from the verb. cognates * Middle Low German rānsāken, rantsāken * Old Danish randsage, ransage (modern Danish ransage) * Old Swedish ransaka (modern Swedish rannsaka)