English
lout
Lout may come from Middle English louten ‘to bow, bend low, stoop over’.
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500louten‘to bow, bend low, stoop over’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1580lout
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500louten‘to bow, bend low, stoop over’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1580lout
Earliest quotation: c. 1580, Philippe Sidnei [i.e., (please specify the folio): “The faire Pamela, whose noble hart I finde doth…”
The story
Of dialectal origin, likely derived from Middle English louten (‘to bow, bend low, stoop over’), from Old English lūtan (‘to bow, bend forward, stoop’), from Proto-West Germanic *lūtan, from Proto-Germanic *lūtaną (‘to bow down, lout’). Alternatively, derived from Middle English louten (‘to hide, lurk’), from Old English lūtian (‘to lurk, skulk’), from Proto-West Germanic *lūtēn (‘to be hidden, be concealed’).disputed Scholars disagree here; the competing view is quoted as the source gives it. Non-Germanic cognates are probably Old Church Slavonic лоудити (luditi, “to deceive”), Serbo-Croatian lud and Albanian lut (‘to beg, pray’).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *lewd- ‘to duck, crouch, feign, cringe, become small’
through Proto-West Germanic *lūtan ‘to bow down, to lout’
Today it means
noun A troublemaker, often violent; a rude violent person; a yob.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle English louten / lout