SCARF  , a narrow wrap for the

neck or shoulders; the term is a wide one, ranging from a light band of silk, muslin or other material worn by women as a decorative part of their costume to a warm knitted muffler of wool to protect the throat from cold . The O . Eng. scearfe meant a piece or fragment of any-thing, and is to be referred ultimately to the root skar-, to cut, seen in Dutch scherf, shred, Ger . Scherbe, potsherd, " scrap," a piece or fragment; " scrip," a piece of leather, hence a pouch or wallet . The particular meanings in English are to be referred to Fr. escharpe, pilgrim's wallet, also scarf . The ecclesiastical " scarf " was originally a loose wrap or muffler (band) to be worn round the neck out of doors . In the English Church, in post-Reformation times, the minister wore over the surplice the " scarf," which was a broad band of black silk with fringed ends arranged like the stole round the neck, but falling nearly to the feet . Its use has been almost entirely replaced by that of the stole (q.v.), with which it has sometimes been wrongly confused . Ultimately from the same root, but directly adapted from the Scandinavian, cf .