harshyoudaoicibaDictYouDict[harsh 词源字典]
harsh: [16] Harsh originally meant ‘hairy’. Its ancestor, Middle Low German harsch, was a derivative of the noun haer ‘hair’, and its exact English equivalent would have been hairish. By the time English acquired it, it had broadened out in meaning to ‘rough’, both literally and figuratively.
[harsh etymology, harsh origin, 英语词源]
harsh (adj.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
originally of texture, "hairy," 1530s, probably from Middle English harske "rough, coarse, sour" (c. 1300), a northern word of Scandinavian origin (compare Danish and Norwegian harsk "rancid, rank"), related to Middle Low German harsch "rough, raw," German harst "a rake;" perhaps from PIE root *kars- "to scrape, scratch, rub, card" (cognates: Lithuanian karsiu "to comb," Old Church Slavonic krasta, Russian korosta "to itch," Latin carduus "thistle," Sanskrit kasati "rubs, scratches"). Meaning "offensive to feelings" is from 1570s; that of "disagreeable, rude" from 1610s.
harsh (v.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
1580s, "sound harshly," from harsh (adj.). Meaning "make harsh, subject to harshness" is by 1991. Related: Harshed; harshing. Harshen is attested from 1821.