An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Scharte

by Friedrich Kluge

Scharte, feminine, ‘notch,’ from Middle High German scharte, feminine, ‘an opening or indentation made by cutting, hewing, or fracture; notch, wound’; compare Dutch schaard, ‘notch, potsherd.’ Allied to Middle High German schart, adjective, ‘hewn to pieces, full of notches, wounded,’ Old High German scart, Anglo-Saxon sceard, English sherd, Old Icelandic skarðr, which were originally da- (to-), participles of scheren. Middle High German scharte, Old High German scartîsan, ‘skillet, pan,’ must, like their Modern High German corresponding forms, be kept apart from these cognates on account of their meaning, since they are derived from skardhâ (not from skarta), as is proved by Old Slovenian skvrada, skrada, ‘skillet, pan, hearth.’