Jump to content

An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Schabernack

From Wikisource
An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language, S (1891)
by Friedrich Kluge, translated by John Francis Davis
Schabernack
Friedrich Kluge2509525An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language, S — Schabernack1891John Francis Davis

Schabernack, m., ‘hoax, practical joke,’ from MidHG. schabernac, schavernac, m., ‘hoax, mockery, scorn,’ also chiefly ‘shaggy (lit. neck-rubbing?) fur cap,’ and ‘a kind of strong wine.’ Allied to OHG. ir-scabarôn, ‘to scratch out, scrape together.’ It is uncertain whether the second part of the compound is connected with ModHG. Nacken or with the verb necken. The MidHG. word with its numerous senses may have also meant orig. ‘prankish hobgoblin.’ Comp. den Schelm im Nacken haben, ‘to be a sly dog’?.