This piqued my interest, in particular when I discovered that the word has the same background and root as the French
écharpe which translate as
scarf into English but can also mean
sash which is relevant in this context. Now that's truly fascinating, see below (hélas, alas, it's all in French):
http://www.echarpissime.com/etymologie-terme-echarpe.html
http://www.echarpissime.com/etude-historique-echarpe.html
I've been always wondering why the scrip is so often shown as such a tiny flat shoulder bag in medieval images. Now it makes more sense
. In short, it says that the French word has its origin in the French language spoken before a written language was established and goes back to the 6th century's words
skirpa or
skirpja which meant basket or rush bag, from the Latin
scirpus (rush
). In the 12th century, in old French now, it developed to
escharpe, escherpe, escrepe which, at that time, meant a bag hanging from the neck with a shoulder strap. It was at that time an accessory belonging to the military dress for a knight, a crusader or an indispensable element forming part of the pilgrim's dress (knight, crusader and pilgrim could mean the same thing in those days). Hence, eventually, just the symbolic piece of cloth hanging from one shoulder to the opposite hip.
Thanks for the inspiration, @scruffy. Who would have thought it.