An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/schürfen

by Friedrich Kluge

schürfen, verb, ‘to scratch, scrape, dig,’ from Middle High German schürfen, schürpfen, ‘to cut up,’ to which schürfœre, ‘flayer, executioner,’ Old High German scurfen, ‘to cut up,’ and Anglo-Saxon scrëpan, sceorpan, are allied. Probably connected with the root skrëp, skërp, ‘to be sharp.’ See scharf, schrappen, and schröpfen.