An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Schöffe

by Friedrich Kluge

Schöffe, masculine, ‘assessor, sheriff, juryman,’ from Middle High German schęffe, schępfe, schęffen, masculine, ‘presiding judge, assessor,’ Old High German scęffin, scaffin, and scęffino, with the same sense; compare Old Low German scępino, ‘assessor,’ Dutch schepen, ‘sheriff.’ The term is not found before the time of Charlemagne, who first created the office of assessor; yet the origin and form of the word points to an earlier period, although Gothic *skapja or *skapeins and the corresponding words in Old Icelandic and Anglo-Saxon are wanting. Teutonic skapjan (see schaffen) also signified ‘to arrange, decree, decide,’ hence Schöffe, literally ‘ordainer’?. From Teutonic the office and the term applied to it passed into Romance as Middle Latin scabînus; compare Italian scabino, French échevin.