- tout
[tout 词源字典] - tout: [14] The etymological notion underlying tout is of ‘sticking out, projecting’. It goes back ultimately to the prehistoric Germanic base *tūt- ‘project’, whose other descendants include Dutch tuit ‘spout’. It is assumed to have produced an Old English *tūtian, but it does not turn up in the written record until the Middle English period, by which time the notion of ‘poking out’ had moved on to ‘peeking’ or ‘peeping’. It progressed further to ‘spy on’, but the modern ‘look for business’ did not emerge until the 18th century.
[tout etymology, tout origin, 英语词源] - tout (v.)
- 1700, thieves' cant, "to act as a lookout, spy on," from Middle English tuten "to peep, peer," probably from a variant of Old English totian "to stick out, peep, peer," from Proto-Germanic *tut- "project" (cognates: Dutch tuit "sprout, snout," Middle Dutch tute "nipple, pap," Middle Low German tute "horn, funnel," Old Norse tota "teat, toe of a shoe"). The sense developed to "look out for jobs, votes, customers, etc., to try to get them" (1731), then "praise highly in an attempt to sell" (1920). Related: Touted; touting.
