scrutiny

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English, from Latin scrūtinium “a search, inquiry, investigation,” derivative of scrūtārī “to search thoroughly”

1. See examination.

Scrutiny and its related words scrutable and scrutinize come from the Late Latin noun scrūtinium “physical search (of a place) for something hidden.”
Scrūtinium is a derivative of the verb scrūtārī, having a verbal meaning corresponding to scrūtinium, but whose original meaning was “to sort through rags, junk, or trash” ( scrūta, a neuter plural noun, means “rubbish, trash”), which is very applicable to modern politics. And the earliest sense of scrutiny in English happens to be “the formal taking of votes.”