idiom question

[kengr]

I'm sure we've all encountered the phrase "bowing and scraping". But what I'm wondering is what exactly constitutes the "scraping" part.

Anybody know?

Comments

[farquhar.livejournal.com]

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.