One possibility is that it is from Old English "sceacol" 'a shackle', perhaps with reference to a chain used to aid in crossing the river. Alternatively, there may have been an unattested Old English adjective "*sceacol" 'shaky, loose' from the stem of the Old English verb "sceacan" 'to shake', perhaps with reference to the bed of the river. It has also been suggested that the element might derive from an unattested Old English noun akin to Old High German "scahho" 'strip or tongue of land' or to Old Norse "skekill" as in "útskekill" 'the outskirts of a field', but there is nothing in the local topography pointing to such meanings.