An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/schöpfen

by Friedrich Kluge

schöpfen, verb, ‘to draw (water, &c.),’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German schępfen; compare Old Saxon skęppian, Dutch scheppen, ‘to draw (water).’ The verbal root skap does not occur elsewhere in this sense; the same dialects have also corresponding noun derivatives. Under Scheffel a root skap, ‘to contain,’ is deduced; with this the cognates of schaffen are also primitively allied. See Schoppen.