An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/schaben

by Friedrich Kluge

schaben, verb, ‘to shave, scrape, scratch,’ from Middle High German schaben, Old High German scaban, ‘to scratch, erase, scrape,’ corresponding to Gothic skaban, ‘to shear’; Old Icelandic skafa, ‘to scratch, shave,’ Anglo-Saxon sčęafan, English to shave, Dutch schaven, ‘to shave, smooth.’ Teutonic root skab, from the pre-Teutonic root skā̆p; compare Greek σκάπ-τω, ‘to dig,’ σκαπάνη, ‘spade,’ Lithuanian skópti, ‘to hollow out,’ skáptas, ‘woodcarver's knife’; allied also probably to Latin scabo, ‘to scratch, shave,’ Old Slovenian skoblĭ, ‘spokeshave,’ Lithuanian skabùs, ‘sharp’ (Aryan root skā̆b). See the preceding words as well as Schuppe and Schaft.