scrape

v. (wk.)

Cl pp. scraped

‘to scrape, paw the ground’

(Modern English scrape)

Etymology

It is often assumed that OE scrapian (from a PGmc wk. 2 *skrapō(j)an-, reflected also in ON, cp. OIcel skrapa ‘to scrape, clatter; scratch’, and in WGmc, cp. MDu schrapen, MHG schraffen) would have had initial /ʃ/, and thus that ME and PDE /sk/ probably show input from the Norse cognate (so Bj., Luick §§381, 700.1, MED, McGee 346, Nagano 1966: 63).  But some scholars doubt the regularity of palatalization of OE sc- in scr- and accordingly prefer to explain /skr/ in scrape as a native development (thus West 1936: 69–71 and Karte 1; and a possibility in OED and TGD). A complicating factor is the possibility of influence from OFr. escraper (ult. < Gmc) (noticed by Bj., MED and West; see FEW s.v. *skrapôn, skrappôn) and also perhaps the issue in this case of the sound-symbolic aptness of initial /skr/ (see e.g. Dance 2003: 435–6).

PGmc Ancestor

*skrapō(j)an-

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

skrapa ‘to scrape, clatter; scratch’
(ONP skrapa (vb.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

Icel skrapa, Norw skrapa, Dan skrabe, Sw skrapa

OE Cognate

scrapian 'to scrape'

Phonological and morphological markers

[absence of palatalization of */sk/] (possibly diagnostic)

Summary category

CC2

Attestation

A range of citations in MED have spellings implying initial /sk/ (earliest in AW.Cleo; see Dance 2003: 376, 435–6) and showing no particular dial marking.

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

Gaw 1571; Cl 1546

On the sense at Gaw 1571, see GDS 1571n.

Bibliography

MED scrāpen (v.) , OED scrape (v.) , HTOED , Dance scrape, Bj. 131, de Vries skrapa (1), Mag. skrapa, Orel *skrapōjanan, Kroonen *skapp/bōn- ~ *skarbōn-, AEW scrapian