The story
- Old Norse · derived fromSkarfi
- Old Norse · derived fromskarfr
- Middle English · derived fromscarfe“cormorant”
- English todayScarff
From northern Middle English scarfe (“cormorant”), itself from Old Norse skarfr (compare Icelandic skarfur (“cormorant”)), either a nickname for someone who resembled a cormorant or a byname from Old Norse Skarfi.
Words from the same roots
Old Norseskarfr all →
scarf
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.