It is generally agreed that the word "sabotage" is French in origin - coming from the French word for shoes: sabot.
There are two theories.

The first is that during the railway strike of 1910, French workers disabled the wooden shoes, or sabots, that secured the rails - thereby rendering the railway inoperable.

The other theory describes how during the industrial revolution, disgruntled workers threw their shoes into the works of the looms they were working on - as a way of protesting working conditions.

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