1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Shingle

SHINGLE. (1) A Middle English corruption of schindle, from Lat. scindula or scandula, a wooden tile, from scandere, to cut—a kind of wooden tile, generally of oak, used in places where timber is plentiful, for covering roofs, spires, &c. In England they are generally plain, but on the continent of Europe the ends are sometimes rounded, pointed or cut into ornamental form. (2) Water-worn detritus, of larger and coarser form than gravel, chiefly used of the pebbly detritus of a sea-beach. This word is of Norwegian origin, from singl or singling, coarse gravel. It is apparently derived from singla, to make a ringing sound, a form of “to sing,” with allusion to the peculiar noise made when walking over shingle. (3) The word “shingles,” the common name of herpes zoster, a particular form of the inflammatory eruption of the skin known as herpes (q.v.), is the plural of an obsolete word for a girdle, sengle, taken through O. Fr. cengle from Lat. cingulum, cingere, to gird.