scalper

the modern sense of 'scalper' originates from a north american commercial practice of the mid-19th century. the verb 'to scalp' initially referred to the act of buying and reselling railroad tickets or other goods at a premium, drawing a metaphorical parallel to the historical practice of taking a scalp as a trophy or for bounty. the '-er' suffix, a common agent-noun formation in english, attaches to this verb to denote a person who performs this action. thus, the literal image of one who takes a 'scalp' (a profit or premium) evolved into the abstract meaning of a person who engages in profiteering by reselling scarce commodities.

Structure: scalp (to resell at a profit) + er (agent noun suffix) scalp (verb, from the noun 'scalp', north american english, 19th century, meaning to resell tickets at a profit) + er (agent-forming suffix, from old english '-ere', of germanic origin, used to form nouns denoting a person engaged in an activity)