Loot
early 19th century (as a verb): from Hindi lūṭ, from Sanskrit luṇṭh- ‘rob’.
wiktionary
From Middle Dutch loet, loete("scoop, shovel, scraper"; > Modern Dutch loet), from Old Dutch *lōta, from Old Frankish *lōtija(“scoop, ladle”), from Proto-Germanic *hlōþþijō(“ladle”), from Proto-Indo-European *kleh₂-(“to lay down, deposit, overlay”). Cognate with Scots lute, luyt(“scoop, ladle”), West Frisian loete, lete, Middle Low German lōte(“rake”), French louche("ladle"; < Germanic). Related to lade, ladle.
Attested 1788, a loan from Hindustani लूट(lūṭ)/ لوٹ (lūṭ, “spoil, booty”), from Sanskrit लुण्ट्(luṇṭ, “to rob, plunder”). The verb is from 1842. Fallows (1885) records both the noun and the verb as "Recent. Anglo-Indian".
In origin only applicable to plundering in warfare.
A figurative meaning developed in American English in the 1920s, resulting in a generalized meaning by the 1950s.
etymonline
loot (n.)
"goods taken from an enemy, etc.," 1802 (in Charles James's "Military Dictionary," London, which defines it as "Indian term for plunder or pillage"), Anglo-Indian, from Hindi lut, from Sanskrit loptram, lotram "booty, stolen property," from PIE *roup-tro-, from root *reup- "to snatch" (see rip (v.)).
LOOTICS, Ind. A term in India to express a body of irregular horsemen, who plunder and lay waste the country, and harrass the enemy in their march. They may be compared to the Hulans of Europe and other free-booters.
LOOTY WALLOW, Ind. A term of the same import as Lootics.
[James, "Military Dictionary"]
loot (v.)
"to plunder; carry off as loot," 1821, from loot (n.). Related: Looted; looting.
