children's game, 1801 (from 1789 as hop-scot), apparently from hop (v.) + scotch (n.2) "scratch," from the lines scored in the dirt to make the squares for the game.
Entries linking to hopscotch
hop v.1
Old English hoppian "to spring, leap; to dance; to limp," from Proto-Germanic *hupnojan (source also of Old Norse hoppa "hop, skip," Dutch huppen, German hüpfen "to hop"). Transitive sense from 1791. Related: Hopped; hopping. Hopping-john "stew of bacon with rice and peas" attested from 1838. Hopping mad is from 1670s.
scotch n.2
"incision, cut, score, gash," mid-15c., scoch, in cookery, related to scotch (v.). Compare Old French coche "notch on an arrow."