Harrow Etymology 1
From Middle English harwe , harow , from Old English * hearwa (perhaps ultimately cognate with harvest ), or from Old Norse harfr /herfi ;[1] compare Danish harve ( “ harrow ” ) , Dutch hark ( “ rake ” ) . Akin to Latin carpere . According to the OED , the verb senses are partly derived from the noun sense, partly from a by-form of the verb harry , itself from Old English hergian .[2]
Noun
harrow (plural harrows )
A device consisting of a heavy framework having several disks or teeth in a row, which is dragged across ploughed land to smooth or break up the soil , to remove weeds or cover seeds ; a harrow plow .
1918 , Louise & Aylmer Maude, Anna Karenina , Oxford, translation of original by Leo Tolstoy, published 1998 , page 153 :He sent for the carpenter, who was under contract to be with the threshing-machine, but it turned out that he was mending the harrows , which should have been mended the week before Lent.
1960 , P. G. Wodehouse , Jeeves in the Offing , chapter X:“It may be fun for her,” I said with one of my bitter laughs, “but it isn't so diverting for the unfortunate toads beneath the harrow whom she plunges so ruthlessly in the soup.”
1969 , Bessie Head, When Rain Clouds Gather , Heinemann, published 1995 , page 28 :Part of your job would be to learn tractor ploughing and the use of planters, harrows , and cultivators.
( military ) An obstacle formed by turning an ordinary harrow upside down, the frame being buried.
Translations
device
Afrikaans: eg (af) , ê
Albanian: lesë (sq) f , shqezë f
Arabic: جَرّافَة f ( jarrāfa ) , كَاسِحَة f ( kāsiḥa ) , مِسْلَفَة f ( mislafa )
Armenian: տափան (hy) ( tapʻan )
Assamese: মৈ ( moi )
Azerbaijani: mala , dırmıq (az)
Belarusian: барана́ f ( baraná )
Bulgarian: бра́на (bg) f ( brána )
Burmese: ထွန် (my) ( htwan )
Buryat: борной ( bornoj )
Catalan: rascle (ca) m , esterrossadora f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 耙 (zh) ( bà ) , 耖 (zh) ( chào )
Cornish: harow m
Czech: brány (cs) f pl
Danish: harve c
Dutch: eg (nl) c , egge (nl) f
Esperanto: erpilo
Estonian: äke
Faroese: harva f
Finnish: äes (fi)
French: herse (fr) f
Galician: grade (gl) f
Georgian: ფარცხი ( parcxi )
German: Egge (de) f
Greek: σβάρνα (el) f ( svárna ) , βωλοκόπος m ( volokópos )
Ancient: ἀγρεῖφνα f ( agreîphna )
Hebrew: מַשׁדֵדָה (he)
Hindi: हेंगा m ( heṅgā ) , हैरो ( hairo )
Hungarian: borona (hu)
Icelandic: herfi (is) n
Ido: herso (io)
Ingrian: astava , vedra
Irish: cliath fhuirste f , bráca m
Italian: erpice (it) f , frangizolle m
Japanese: 馬鍬 (ja) ( まぐわ, maguwa ) , マグワ ( maguwa )
Kalmyk: боорн ( boorn )
Kashubian: bróna
Kazakh: мала ( mala ) , тырма ( tyrma )
Khmer: រនាស់ (km) ( rɔnoah )
Korean: 써레 (ko) ( sseore )
Kyrgyz: мала (ky) ( mala ) , тырмоок (ky) ( tırmook ) , тырмооч (ky) ( tırmooc )
Lao: ຄາດ (lo) ( khāt )
Latgalian: ecieža
Latin: hirpex m , occa f
Latvian: ecēšas m
Lezgi: гъар ( ġar )
Lithuanian: akėčios (lt)
Luxembourgish: Éig (lb) f
Macedonian: бра́на f ( brána )
Malay: garu (ms)
Maori: rakaraka , rakuraku
Middle English: harwe
Mongolian: борной (mn) ( bornoj )
Navajo: akʼinaalzhoodí , akʼinaʼalzhoodí
Norman: hèrche f ( Jersey )
Norwegian:
Bokmål: harv m or f
Nynorsk: horv f
Persian: کلوخشکن ( kolux-šekan )
Plautdietsch: Äajd f
Polabian: bornă f
Polish: brona (pl) f
Portuguese: ancinho (pt) , grade (pt)
Romanian: grapă (ro) f
Russian: борона́ (ru) f ( boroná )
Scottish Gaelic: cliath f
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: дрљача f , брана f
Roman: drljača (sh) f , brana (sh) f
Slovak: brány f pl
Slovene: brana (sl) f
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: brona f
Southern Altai: тырмууш ( tïrmuuš )
Spanish: grada (es) f , rastra (es) m , escarificador
Swedish: harv (sv) c
Tabasaran: гъар ( ġar )
Tajik: мола ( mola ) , сихмола ( sixmola ) , дандона ( dandona )
Thai: คราด (th) ( krâat )
Turkish: tırmık (tr)
Turkmen: mala
Udmurt: усы ( usy )
Ukrainian: борона́ (uk) f ( boroná )
Uzbek: borona (uz) , sixmola (uz)
Venetian: àrpega (vec)
Vietnamese: bừa (vi)
Walloon: îpe (wa) f , yesse (wa) f , seracuze (wa) m or f
Welsh: og (cy) f , oged (cy) f
Verb
harrow (third-person singular simple present harrows , present participle harrowing , simple past and past participle harrowed )
( transitive ) To drag a harrow over; to break up with a harrow.
1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [ Daniel Defoe ] , The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, [ … ] , London: [ … ] W[ illiam] Taylor [ … ] , →OCLC :When the corn was sown, I had no harrow, but was forced to go over it myself, and drag a great heavy bough of a tree over it, to scratch it, as it may be called, rather than rake or harrow it.
( transitive ) To traumatize or disturb ; to frighten or torment .
c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke ”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies [ … ] (First Folio ), London: [ … ] Isaac Iaggard , and Ed[ ward] Blount , published 1623 , →OCLC , [ Act I, scene i] :It harrows me with fear and wonder.
c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke ”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies [ … ] (First Folio ), London: [ … ] Isaac Iaggard , and Ed[ ward] Blount , published 1623 , →OCLC , [ Act I, scene v] , page 257 , column 2:I could a Tale vnfold, vvhoſe lighteſt vvord / VVould harrovv vp thy ſoule, freeze thy young blood, / Make thy tvvo eyes like Starres, ſtart from their Spheres, / Thy knotty and combined locks to part, / And each particular haire to ſtand an end, / Like Quilles vpon the fretfull Porpentine: [ …]
( transitive ) To break or tear, as if with a harrow; to wound; to lacerate; to torment or distress; to vex.
1707 , Nicholas Rowe , The Royal Convert :my aged muscles harrow'd up with whips
Etymology 2
From Middle English harrow , harrowe , haro , from Old French haro , harou , harau , harol , from Frankish * harot , * hara ( “ here; hither ” ) , from * hēr . Akin to Old Saxon herod , Old High German herot , Middle Dutch hare .
References
According to ODS : "eng. harrow maaske laant fra nordisk", i.e. "English harrow [is] possibly loaned from Norse".