Let's start with scruple. Any responses to what I sent? Worth looking at the OED entry? I think I've come up with an answer to my question about why the two words are treated as homonyms rather than distinct meanings of the same word. Looking at the dates and sources for the quotations might explain the decision—two nearly contemporaneous adoptions from French, instead of the kind of trail we'll see in our next words today.
I've been resisting my urge to check on the words scrutiny and scrutinize, to see if they're related to our interesting word. Let's find out together whether there's any relationship. In a way this is an experiment. Would it be more interesting to look together at the evidence for words you nominate, or would you prefer me to do the exploration in advance? Either approach is OK for me.
On to today's nine words.