"scrambled for a hold" vs "scrabbled for a hold"

Question

While throwing together some prompts for a writing challenge on Writing.CD last night, I wrote this line:

[My] hands scrambled for a hold on the rough rock.

This morning, while looking back at it, I thought "Huh. Is it actually "scrambled", or should that be "scrabbled"? I seem to recall seeing "scrabbled"."

So, turning to Google, I did a quick search for the line "scrabbled for a hold".

And then, to compare, a search for "scrambled for a hold".

...so it looks like both are in use, but "scrambled" is slightly more popular?

Except that Google Ngrams shows a different story.

The graph shows that even though "scrambled for a hold" makes an appearance nearly thirty years before "scrabbled for a hold" shows up, by the 1950s "scrabbled" has outstripped "scrambled" and is more in-use.

But... which one is actually correct? Does it matter which one popped up first, or that the other one became more popular? Which one is actually more accurate?

LPH · Answer

Both are correct and are synonyms in the usage here  considered. Both are traced back to a much more ancient period than that shown by the ngrams, since "scrabble" was acknowledged in the mid 17th century and "scramble" in the late 16th.

(SOED) scrabble [MDu schrabbelen …] 3 v.i. Scramble on hands and feet; stumble or struggle along;
   Freq. foll. by up. M17.
  
  (SOED) scramble [ imitation: cf. CRAMBLE, SCAMBLE] 1 v.i. Stand up, get into a specified place or position, by the struggling use of the hands and the feet; make one's way by clambering, crawling, etc. over steep or rough ground; move hastily or awkwardly into a specified place or position. L16.

Popularity is very relative criterion but there is a tendency driving people to opt for the popular; I wouldn't say that scramble is more accurate but that it appears to carry more connotations in the way of expressing the idea of a struggling with one's body.

"scrambled for a hold" vs "scrabbled for a hold"

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