An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/beschuppen

by Friedrich Kluge

beschuppen, vb., ‘to scale, deceive,’ from LG.; the cognate words of the same group show that pf, not pp, is the strictly HG. form. It seems to belong to the stem of OIc. skopa, ‘to deride’; MidDu. scop, ‘derision.’ To the same stem belongs an OTeut. term for ‘poet,’ AS. scop, OHG. scopf, which, on account of its meaning, is important for the right conception of poetic composition among our ancestors.