LiveJournal will be undergoing maintenance on May 25, and might display errors until complete. Please see http://lj-maintenance.livejournal.com/ for details and updates.
- Add Friend
- Add Note
- View friends feed
- Track User
- Send V-Gift
-
-
The Musings of a Literate Shrew
Plus Account, Created on 16 April 2009 (#19583425), Last updated on 30 December 2010 [Gift]
- Name:
- literateshrew
- Birthdate:
- 30 August
- Location:
- Georgia, United States
- Website:
- http://literateshrew.blogspot.com
- External Services:
- Bio
- shrew (n) :
1. "small mammal," O.E. screawa "shrew-mouse," unknown outside English, perhaps from P.Gmc. *skreu- "to cut" (see shred). Alternate O.E. word for it was scirfemus, from sceorfan "to gnaw."
2. "peevish, malignant, clamorous, spiteful, vexatious, turbulent woman" [Johnson] c.1386, from earlier sense of "spiteful person" (male or female), c.1250, traditionally said to derive from some supposed malignant influence of the animal, which was once believed to have a venomous bite and was held in superstitious dread. Shrewish "scolding" is from 1565, originally "wicked, evil" (1375).
harridan (n) : c. 1700, "one that is half Whore, half Bawd" ["Dictionary of the Canting Crew"]; "a decayed strumpet" [Johnson], from Fr. haridelle "a poore tit, or leane ill-favored jade," [Cotgrave, 1611], in Fr. from 16c., of unknown origin.
termagant (n) : c. 1500, "violent, overbearing person" (especially of women), from Teruagant, Teruagaunt (c.1205), name of a fictitious Muslim deity appearing in medieval morality plays, from O.Fr. Tervagant, a proper name in "Chanson de Roland" (c.1100), of uncertain origin.
Was it for this I uttered prayers,
And sobbed and cursed and kicked the stairs,
That now, domestic as a plate,
I should retire at half-past eight?
-- Edna St. Vincent Millay