Spout comes from Middle English spouten, probably from Middle Dutch spouten ('to spout, gush'), of imitative origin. The historical chain includes Middle Dutch spouten. The quoted older sense, "to spout, gush," supplies the immediate semantic anchor for spout. The formation is best read as borrowed: the word spout carries its older form-history into a compact English lexical shape. In present English it is used as a noun, "a tube or lip for pouring liquid; to eject liquid forcibly". English derivatives include spouting. The result is a noun and verb whose etymology preserves both the older form and the later English specialization.