Quizzical Equestrian Queries 2: Scot or Scott

As we know, all sports evolve tremendously, and our sport is no different. It’s really not the same thing at all as it was in 1972. It’s a different type of horse we’re using. The style of riding is quite evolved, the way the courses are built, the materials used… it’s virtually unrecognizable.

Ian Millar

Another question that arose on the same day as the last one from an older woman equestrian was, “Is your name spelled with two ts or one t?”

“I don’t know. I’m curious as to when Jacobsen went from a hard j to a soft y in the pronunciation of Jacobsen.”

My name is Scott. But others can be named Scot or be Scots, as in a first name versus a nickname for place of origin or nationality, i.e., Scotland. The extra t does change the pronunciation of the name, but not in an obvious way. Scott with a harder landing on the two ts. While Scot does land on the single t, the o is emphasized more and in the way one pronounces “goat”.

The pronunciation is different. The term Scot, for Scotsman or Scotsmen or a Scot, derives from naming as someone from the country of Scotland. Scott does not mean anything else. It’s just a name.

However, even as it is simply just a name now, the idea is “Scot” meant someone of Scottish origin, and then became Scott, which became a universal now.