wainscot: [14] Wainscot was borrowed from Middle Low German wagenschot. It is not altogether clear what the origins of this were, but the generally accepted theory is that it is a compound of wagen ‘waggon’ and schot ‘planks, boards’, and that it therefore originally meant ‘planks used for making waggons’. To begin with it was applied in English to ‘highgrade oak imported from Russia, Germany, and Holland’. Such wood was used mainly for panelling rooms, and by the 16th century wainscot had come to signify ‘wood panelling’. => waggon, wain[wainscot etymology, wainscot origin, 英语词源]