Picture an animal even smaller than a mouse, with a long pointed nose, quick on its feet and out mostly after dark. Nothing about it is large, and nothing about it is calm. English has had that picture for a thousand years, and at some point started reaching for the same name when it wanted to describe a person as small, sharp and never quiet.
Shrew comes from Middle English schrewe and Old English sċrēawa, from a Germanic root carrying the idea of thin, meagre, frail; related forms in Old High German and Norwegian mean 'dwarf'. The size is in the word from the start. The Middle English form schrewe also meant 'a wicked person', and the obsolete verb schrewen meant 'to curse'.
shrew 來自中古英文 schrewe、古英語 sċrēawa，再往上是一組帶有「瘦小、單薄」意思的字根；古高地德語和挪威語的相關字甚至就是「矮人」。體型的小，從一開始就寫在這個字裡。中古英文的 schrewe 同時也指「惡人」，而已經廢棄的動詞 schrewen 是「詛咒」。
Wiktionary entry 'shrew', etymologies 1 and 2 (packet evidence kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:235980442 and :236039388)
From the picture
舊式的罵人話
可以想成把那隻又小又不安靜的動物搬到人身上。中古英文的 schrewe 本來就兼指「惡人」，後來這個用法固定到女人身上，變成一句貶低的話。這是一條聯想，不是說被罵的人真的像動物。這個用法現在已經很舊，主要活在舊書和舊劇本裡，最有名的就是 The Taming of the Shrew。
noun · C1
An old-fashioned, insulting word for a woman who is often angry and keeps scolding or complaining at the people around her.
潑婦
noun · B2
A very small animal that looks like a mouse but has a long pointed nose, and that is mostly active at night.
鼩鼱