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Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂ew- Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *h₂ṓws Proto-Italic *ausis Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- Proto-Indo-European *ḱlew-der. Proto-Italic *auskoltā Latin auscultō Latin ascultō Old French escouterdeverb. Old French escoutebor. Middle English scout English scout From Middle English scout, scoult, from Old French escoute (“action of listening”), verbal noun from escouter (“to listen, heed”), from Latin auscultō (“to listen”). The verb comes from the noun.

Of North Germanic origin. Compare Old Norse skúta, skúti (“taunt”), Middle English scoute (“a wretch, rascal, rogue”); thus may be related to English shout.

From Middle English scoute, skoute (also schoute, shoute, schuyt), from Middle Low German schûte or Middle Dutch schute; or possibly from Old Norse skúta (“a small craft or cutter”). Compare shout (“flat-bottomed boat”), schuit.

Uncertain. The Dictionary of the Scots Language (DSL) groups the verb scout, scoot (/skut/, regionally /skʌut/) "cause liquid to gush" with a noun scout "sudden gush or flow of water, as from a spout or over rock", and considers the pair to be of Scandinavian origin, perhaps related to Old Norse skjóta (“shoot”); however, scout (or scut) was formerly also found as a word for "flow of water over rocks, waterfall; ridge or overhang of rocks" in various northern and central English dialects, and there suggested to have a different Norse origin, Old Norse skúti (“cave formed by jutting rocks”); it is possible that noun and the verb are unrelated. It is also unclear whether the noun meaning "guillemot" is related (the DSL gives it as a separate word, with separate spellings scout, scowt, skout, pronounced /skut/, of uncertain origin), but it might derive from their habit of pouring forth excrement.