Origin and history of gutter

joint disease, c. 1200, from Old French gote "a drop, bead; the gout, rheumatism" (10c., Modern French goutte), from Latin gutta "a drop," in Medieval Latin "gout," a word of unknown origin. In old medicine the disease was thought to be caused by drops of viscous humors seeping from the blood into the joints, which turns out to be close to the modern scientific explanation. It often was caused by the drinking of heavy or sweet wines, or excessive beer drinking combined with insufficient food.

in reference to jazz, "earthy," by 1929, supposedly originally a reference to the buckets which caught the drippings, or gutterings, from barrels. Which would connect it to gutter (v.).

also gutter-snipe, 1857, from gutter (n.) + snipe (n.); originally Wall Street slang for "streetcorner broker," attested later (1869) as "street urchin," also "one who gathers rags and paper from gutters." As a name for the common snipe, it dates from 1874 but is perhaps earlier.