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scold [scold 词源字典]: scold: [13] Scold was originally a noun, denoting an argumentative or nagging woman – the sort who had a ‘scold’s bridle’ fitted to keep her tongue quiet. It appears to have been borrowed from Old Norse skáld ‘poet’, the semantic link perhaps being the poet’s role of satirizing or poking fun at people (in Icelandic law in former times the term skáldskapr, literally ‘poetry’, denoted ‘libel in verse’). The origins of skáld itself are not known. Scold began to be used as a verb in the 14th century, at first in the sense ‘argue, nag’. The modern transitive use ‘reprove’ is not recorded until the early 18th century.
[scold etymology, scold origin, 英语词源]
shrewd: shrewd: [14] Shrewd originally meant ‘wicked, dangerous’. Its modern sense ‘astute’ did not develop (via a less approbatory ‘cunning’) until the 16th century. It was derived from shrew ‘wicked man’ (a sense now obsolete). This is generally assumed to be the same noun as shrew the animal-name [OE], a word of uncertain origin. Shrews were formerly thought to have a poisonous bite, and were held in superstitious fear – hence the term’s metaphorical application. The move from ‘wicked man’ via ‘bad-tempered abusive complainer’ to ‘nagging woman’ began in the 14th century.
=> shrew
nag (v.): "annoy by scolding," 1828, originally a dialectal word meaning "to gnaw" (1825), probably ultimately from a Scandinavian source (compare Old Norse gnaga "to complain," literally "to bite, gnaw," dialectal Swedish and Norwegian nagga "to gnaw"), from Proto-Germanic *gnagan, related to Old English gnagan "to gnaw" (see gnaw). Related: Nagged; nagger; nagging.
snag (v.): "be caught on an impediment," 1807, from snag (n.). Originally in American English, often in reference to steamboats caught on branches and stumps lodged in riverbeds. Of fabric, from 1967. The transitive meaning "to catch, steal, pick up" is U.S. colloquial, attested from 1895. Related: Snagged; snagging.
Xanthippe: also (incorrectly) Xantippe, late 16c., spouse of Socrates (5c. B.C.E.), the prototype of the quarrelsome, nagging wife. The name is related to the masc. proper name Xanthippos, a compound of xanthos "yellow" (see xantho-) + hippos "horse" (see equine).
skimmington: "A procession made through a village intended to bring ridicule on and make an example of a nagging wife or an unfaithful husband", Early 17th century: perhaps from skimming ladle, used as a thrashing instrument during the procession.