What is the etymological connection between 'sham' pillow covering and 'sham' fake or fraud?

Yes, they are etymologically connected. The word sham seems to derive from an English dialectical variant of shame. The meaning “pillow covering”, which came later, is related to the meaning of sham as something meant to look like something else, a false front, a facade.

The pillow sham keeps you from seeing the shameful REAL pillow!

Kinda concerned now. Is shampoo just a poor substitute for real poo?

What about champagne – is it really sham pain?

And then there’s sham rock! Not to be confused with the real thing!

@Strauss I think they use really big, styrofoam sham rocks as boulders in old Star Trek episodes.

Shama Lama Ding Dong was a fake 1960s song created for the movie Animal House.

Rama Lama Ding Dong was an actual hit by The Edsels in 1961.

Is “shambling” a term for a slow kind of walk or is it fake jewelry??

^^ What happened there? It was a good quip but not that good! Sorry.

Shamoo? The orca?

^^^ But who is the real Ooo?

OO – that’s a hard one!

SHAMU! Is how it’s spelled.

Ooo child things are gonna get easier

Isn’t Sham U the name of Trump’s University?

How come no one mentioned the Shamwow guy? Now that is a read sham. HA!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Q39yGLPkMY

Yeah, nobody wants a fake wow.

Stop laughing! There is no laughing in General!

Shambles. To describe a trump presidency.

Sham WOW!

Apparently “shambles” has its own etymology.

https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=shambles

Sham general?