What is the sound that this word attempts to express?
There is the extended hooting sound that is often made at celebratory events – e.g., your buddy crosses the stage to pick up his diploma. (As an editorial aside, let me say that I hate this lack of decorum.)
There is also a sound my son and his friends makes that I am having a hard time describing. It’s kind of like “oo-ee oo-ee,” and then there’s a rest between the next pair of oo-ees, and and the ee is several intervals above the oo.
Whatever this sound is, when did it start being written as WOOT?
I’ve always heard it said like its spelled. Y’know…woot.
Still, Slick’s link references the excited guinea pig noise. Now that I think about it, it could have been ‘woot’. I always heard it as ‘ReeeEEET’
I don’t know anything about the etymology, but the “woot” or “oo-ee oo-ee” sound is usually accompanied by a “raise the roof” gesture timed in accordance with the spoken syllables. It’s a celebratory song-and-dance, although these days I’d say it’s mostly used in a joke-y manner.