ext_185524 ([identity profile] farquhar.livejournal.com) wrote in [personal profile] kengr 2005-06-02 01:04 am (UTC)

one online etymology source suggests:
scrape
c.1303, probably from O.N. skrapa "to scrape, erase," from P.Gmc. *skrapojan (cf. O.E. scrapian "to scrape," Du. schrapen, Ger. schrappen). The noun is attested from c.1440. Meaning "embarrassing or awkward predicament" is recorded from 1709, as OED suggests, "probably from the notion of being 'scraped' in going through a narrow passage."

So my hunch maybe wrong.

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