An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Scham

by Friedrich Kluge

Scham, feminine, ‘shame, disgrace, bashfulness, pudenda,’ feminine, from Middle High German scham, Old High German scama, feminine, ‘sense of shame, confusion, infamy, disgrace (Middle High German), pudibunda.’ Compare Old Saxon skama, feminine, ‘confusion,’ Dutch schaam- (in compounds), Anglo-Saxon sčeǫmu, feminine, ‘shame, infamy, disgrace,’ English shame; Gothic *skama, feminine, may be inferred from skaman, ‘to be ashamed’ (Old High German scamên). The Aryan root skam, which also appears in Modern High German Schande, is connected with the Aryan root kam, ‘to cover oneself,’ preserved in Hemd (which see, as well as Leichnam) and in Gothic hamôn, so that Gothic sik skaman, ‘to be ashamed,’ would signify literally ‘to cover oneself.’