An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Schäfchen

by Friedrich Kluge

Schäfchen, in the phrase sein Schäfchen ins Trockene bringen, ‘to feather one's nest,’ is usually explained as a corruption of Low German schepken, ‘barque.’ Perhaps it is, however, an ironical application of a passage in the parable of the Good Shepherd.