scour

Where does the word "scour" come from? It comes from Latin excurare, passing through Middle Dutch before entering English (1300s).

Scour’s story begins in Latin: excurare meant “to clean off.” 'ex-' plus 'curare', to take care of, clean. By medieval, the word had taken hold in Middle Dutch as schuren. Flemish cloth-makers and housekeepers used it for scrubbing surfaces. It reached English by 1300s as scour. The sense of searching an area thoroughly came in the 1500s. Today, scour means to clean by hard rubbing; to search thoroughly.

1. Stage 1 · Latin · ancient excurare "to clean off", 'ex-' plus 'curare', to take care of, clean.
2. Stage 2 · Middle Dutch · medieval schuren "to scrub", Flemish cloth-makers and housekeepers used it for scrubbing surfaces.
3. Stage 3 · English · 1300s scour "to scrub; to search thoroughly", the sense of searching an area thoroughly came in the 1500s.