»knout

After years of wondering what a knouter might be, a correspondent pointed out the obvious: it comes from knout, the whip of the Russians (perhaps imported from Scandinavia, perhaps a Tatar device, perhaps Germanic) and comparable to a cat o' nine tails. Thus: a knouter is one who uses the knout, and Ivan in Richard Connell's story The Most Dangerous Game had served in the capacity of torturer to the Russian court.