Notes for lines 0-1017 ed. Bernice W. Kliman
| 56 Hora. Most like, it {horrowes} <harrowes> me with feare and wonder. | 1.1.44 |
|---|
1671 Skinner
Skinner
56 horrowes] Skinner (1671): “harowed, by him that harowed Hell (i.e.) per Christum, ab AS Hergian, Vastare, verbatim per eum qui Vastavit (i.e.) Devicit Inferos.”
1723- mtby2
mtby2
56 horrowes] Thirlby (1723-) refers to 701.
52 56 701 3857
1768-70 mwar2
mwar2 = mtby2 without attribution
56 horrowes] Warner (ms. notes, 1766-70, fol. ???): “vid. infra pge. 20” [701]
1778 v1778
v1778
56 horrowes] Steevens (ed. 1778): “To harrow is to conquer, to subdue. The word is of Saxon origin. So, in the old bl[ack] l[etter] romance of Syr Eglamoure of Artoys: ‘He swore by him that harowed hell.’”
See S&A doc
1784 ays1
ays1 = v1778 minus (to conquer and ref. to Syr Eglamoure) without attribution
56 horrowes] Ayscough (ed. 1784): “To harrow is to subdue. The word is of Saxon origin.”
1785 v1785
v1785 = 1778
56 horrowes]
1787 ann
ann = v1785
56 horrowes]
1790 mal
mal = v1785
56 horrowes]
1791- rann
rann
56 horrowes] Rann (ed. 1791-) “it confounds, astonishes me; I am quite lost in the fear and wonder.”
1793 v1793
v1793 = mal +
56 horrowes] Steevens (ed. 1793): “Milton has adopted this phrase in his Comus: ‘Amaz’d I stood, harrow’d with grief and fear.’ ”
1803 v1803
v1803 = v1793
56 horrowes]
1805 Seymour
Seymour: Chedworth; Steevens
56 horrowes] Chedworth (apud Seymour, 1805, 2:139): “I do not think that ‘harrows’ here, signifies subdues. Does Mr. Steevens suppose that to be the meaning of it in the following passage, in the last scene of this act, on which there is no note? ‘I would [sic] a tale unfold, whose lightest word Would harrow up they soul.’ If he does, what is the force of the particle up, in this last quoted passage?’ Lord Chedworth.”
Seymour: Steevens [on Milton] without attribution
56 horrowes] Seymour (1805, 2:139): “This application of ‘to harrow’ is, I believe, in reference, however licentiously, to the agricultural implement, the harrow, and its rugged construction, although employed to compose the still more rugged operation of the plough. [quotes the line]
“Milton has a similar expression in Comus: ‘Amaz’d I stood, harrow’d with grief and fear.’”
Of course since Seymour’s note follows Chedworth, he means to answer Chedworth’s question indirectly and to supply a better gloss than Steevens had.
1807 ayl3
ayl3 = v1793 minus analogues
56 horrowes] Ayscough (ed. 1807): “To harrow is to conquer, to subdue.”
1813 v1813
v1813 = v1793
56 horrowes]
-1819 Coleridge
Coleridge
54-6 See 52.
1819 cald1
cald1: Steevens on Milton without attribution;
Johnson, Tyrwhitt
, +
56 horrowes]
Caldecott (ed. 1819) says the line means <p.3> “Confounds and overwhelms, as by the most alarming apprehension of acts of inroad and violence. This line is almost copied by Milton in Comus: ‘Amaz’d I stood,
harrow’d with grief and
fear.’ v. 565. And it is observable, that Warton neither offers any interpretation, nor points out the etymon: and the lexicographers are either silent or
not at all agreed upon the subject.
Johnson [1755?] interprets it here ‘disturb, put into commotion:’ and thinks it should be written
harry, from
harer, Fr. Minshieu [1617] suggests
aro, to plough, as the derivation of
harrow;
and derives
harrie, which he interprets ‘to turmoile or vexe,’ from
har, Sax. intorsio, tormentum; while
Johnson derives the verb in the sense of beat or break up, and the noun
harrow, from
charroue, Fr. and
harcke, Germ. a rake. It should seem that they are considered as one and the same word by Mr. Tyrwhitt, who interprets it elsewhere, as Mr. Steevens does here, ‘to conquer or subdue.’ He says, ‘by him that
harwed helle,’ is
harried. Sax. harassed, subdued, Ch[aucer’s] Mill[er’s]
T[ale] v. 3512; and adds, ‘Our ancesters were very fond of a story of Christ’s exploits in his
Descensus ad inferos, which they called the
harrowing of helle. They took it, with several others of the same stamp, from the gospel of Nicodemus.’ Fabr. Cod. Apoc. N. T. There is a poem upon
this subject in MS. Bodl. 1687. ‘How Jesu Crist
herowed helle; of harde gestes, ich wille telle.’ Tyrwhitt’s Chaucer [2:430] 4to ed.
“It is somewhat singular, that we find the word
harow in the same tale. ‘Let be, Nicholas, Or I
wol crie out
harow and alas’ v.3286, referred, by Mr. Tyrwhitt, to a different origin: he ‘rather believes
haro to be derived from two Islandic words, once probably common to all the Scandinavian nations,
har, altus, and
op, clamor; and adds that
haroep or
harop, was used by some of the inhabitants of the Low Countries in the sense of
harou by the Normans.’ Ibid. [vol. 2]. Warton says, ‘this was an exclamation of alarm and terror, and an outcry upon the name of
Rou or
Rollo, for help.’ Todd’s Spencer [3:413
]. But as the three words
harrow, harrie, and
harow, are, under </p.3> <p.4> various spellings, confounded by glossographers, they may all not unreasonably be referred to the same source.
“The words appear, thus variously represented, in our different old writers: ‘Harro, harrow, Io, eheu; a Fr. haro, an outcry for help, much the same as the English hue and cry: vide Menage.’ Gloss. to Gaw. Douglas’s Virg. Fo. 1710. ‘Hery, hary, hubbilschow. These are words expressive of hurry and confusion. Hiry, hary, seem to be a corruption of the Fr. haro, or the cry of à l’aide, like huetium in our old laws, and hue in English. Hubbilschow* [p.4n] is used with us for uproar. Ancient Scottish Poems from MS. of G. Bannatyne, 1770. p. 173. ‘With bludy ene rolling full thrawynlie Oft and richt schrewitly wold sche clepe and crye, Out, Harro, matrouns, quharesoever ze be.’ G. Doug, Virg, p. 220. ‘torvumque repente Clamat, Io, matres, audite, ubi quæque.’ AEn VII.399. ‘They rent thare hare with harro and allake.” Ib. p. 432. ‘—manu crines laniata—turba furit.’ AEn. XII.605. ‘Wherefore I crye out harowe on them [the evyl shrewes] whiche so falsly have belyed me.’ Reynard, the Foxe, 12mo. 1550. Signat. L.1,b. ‘Advocates and attorneys in open audience at the barre looke as tho they would eat one another, crying Harrol for justice on their client’s side.’ R. C’s Hen. Steph. Apology for Herodotus, fo. 1608, p. 342.
“An instance in which the word occurs in Ascham’s Toxophilus has given occasion to a strange perversion of the text: one of the infinite number of instances in which the ignorance and presumption of Editors has gone a great way towards blotting from the page of history, together with all traces of the character of their author’s style, the evidence of our ancient usages. ‘One of the players shall have a payre of false dyse and cast them out upon the boarde, the honest man shall take them and cast them as he did the other, the thirde shall espye them to be false dyse and shall cry out, haroe with all the othes under God, that he hath falsely wonne their money, and then there is nothing but hould thy throte from my dagger.’ 4to. 1571, fo. 14,b.
“Such is the original: but a book published under the name of ‘James Bennet, Master of the Boarding School at Hoddendon, Herts,’ by Davies and Dodsley, 4to. without date, intitled the English Works and Life of Roger Ascham (in which the dedication and life at least are the work of Dr.
Johnson), instead of ‘
crye out, haroe,’ the editor has given ‘
crye out harde,’ </p.4> <p.5> altering as well the punctuation as the word itself: and in this very ridiculous depravation he has been followed by Mr. Walters, a Glamorganshire clergyman, in an 8vo. edition, 1788 and in an edition of all his English Works, 8vo. 1815. White, Fleet-street.
“From this Norman usage, Mr. Ritson says the word ‘is erroneously supposed by some to be a corruption of Ha Rou,*[p.5n] i.e. Rollo, Duke of Normandy: Pharroh, however, was the old war cry of the Irish. Camd. Britann. 1695, p. 1047, and Spenser’s View of Ireland. The word too, or crie de guerre, of Joan of Arc, was Hara ha. Howell’s Letters, 8vo. 1726, p. 118.’ [for p. 113] Anc. Metrical Romances, [3:349], 8vo. 1802.
“But, whatever its real origin, the tradition of the country, and the form of the invocation of their revered chieftain (à l’aide,
mon prince), demonstrates what must have been the opinion of the inhabitants of Normandy and its adjacent isles upon this subject: and in those islands this form of invocation is continued to the present day. The 53d chapter of the Grand Coustumier de Normandie treats De
Haro, rendered in the Latin text or translation, ‘De clamore, qui dicitur
Harou.’ It states, ‘that in his court of
Haro the Duke of Normandy makes inquest, whether this cry is raised with just cause or otherwise, heavy penalties attending a false clamour: and directs, that it shall not be raised, unless in criminal cases or offences against the state.’ Rouen, Fo. 1539, fo. 10 & 74. But the practise is, and as far as appears, ever has been, directly opposite: and we are well informed, that in Jersey and Guernsey it is the constant usage
, interjetter le clameur de haro, in civil cases, to prevent trespass or entry under colour of right; and if any such inroad is repeated after this cry has been raised, heavy penalties ensue. That i
t ever could have been confined to criminal cases will hardly be allowed, if any credit is due to the story recorded of the stoppage of the Conqueror’s funeral. He had violently dispossessed the owner of the ground, in which it was proposed to deposit his remains. The owner, conceiving this to be a new invasion of his property, and possibly that the death of the invader operated as a renewal of those rights, a suspension of the exercise of which he had hitherto been compelled to acquiesce under, threw in the
clameur de haro. Falle, from Paulus Œniglius, states his challenge to have been made in these words: ‘Qui regna oppressit armis, me quoque metu mortis hactenus oppressit. Ego, injuriæ superstes, pacem mortuo non dabo. In quem infertis hunc hominem locum meus est. In alienum solum inferendi mortui jus nemini esse defendo. Si, extincto tandem indignitatis authore, vicit adhuc vis,
Rollenem, conditorem parentemque gentis,
appello; qui legibus a se datis quam </p.5> <p.6> cujusquam injuria plus unus potest polletque.’ Hist. of Jersey, 1734. P.16, 17.
“It appears too, that this exclamation is, down to the present times, used still more extensively: and that it is resorted to by those who meditate or make attack, as well as those who are assailed. In his private memoir of Louis XVI. Mr. Bertrand de Moleville says, speaking of himself, ‘There was a general shout of Haro sur l’Intendant, accompanied with the most furious imprecations:’ and it is added in a note, that ‘this cry is used by the populace of Brittany and Normandy, when they intend to insult*[p.6n] or attack any body.’ 8vo. 1797, [1:84]. It occurred at Rennes.” </p.6>
<n> <p. 4> *[p.4n] “Hubbub, or as they pronounce it, hoobhoob, is at this day an exclamation of a similar import in South Wales.” </p.4> </n>
<n> <p. 5> *[p.5n]“ Raoul is the real and proper name, Rou or Ro the abbreviation, Rollo the latinised name, and now universally adopted; in the same way as we say Thuanus for De Thou. From whatever other sources derived, this word may have been engrafted into our language, it seems clear, that it has been transmitted to us by our Norman ancestors.” </p.5> </n>
<n> <p.6> *[p.6n] “But it has been questioned, whether the Intendant was not here considered as a wrongful intruder and malfeasor, against whose tortuous entry the cry was raised.” </p. 6> </n>
Ed. note: cald with a copy of Q3 with line 55 missing, rationalizes and even makes a beauty out of the juxtaposition of 54 and 56. See 55n.
1821 v1821
v1821 = v1813
56 horrowes]
1822 Nares
Nares
56 horrowes] Nares (1822): “To Harrow. To vex or plunder; the same as to Harry, infra, and merely a corruption of it. The history of our Lord’s descent to hell was a favourite legend with our ancestors, and the phrase applied to it was, regularly, that he harrowed or harwed hell; that is, plundered or stripped it; as, by the virtue of his cross, he released Adam, and many of his sons: the authority for which was, the false gospel of Nicodemus. Spenser has twice used the expression that way: ‘And he that harrowed hell, with heavie stowre.’ [F.Q. 1.10.40] F.Q. 1.x.40. Also in his Sonnets, he says, addressing Christ, ‘And having harrow’d hell, didst bring away Captivity thence captive.’”
Ed. note: Nares goes on with a ref. to Chaucer and to Tyrwhitt’s notes, &c. But none to Shak.
1825-33 schl
schl
56 horrowes]Schlegel (ed. 1825-33): For the verb harrows he has: “es macht mich starr” which focuses on the physical effect: “it transfixes me.”
1826 sing1
sing1: Steevens in v1821 without attribution +
56 horrowes] Singer (ed. 1826): “To harrow is to distress, to vex, to disturb. To harry and to harass have the same origin, from the Gothic haer, an armed force. Milton has the word in Comus:—‘Amaz’d I stood, harrow’d with grief and fear.’ ”
1832 cald2
cald2 ≈ cald1 minus (struck out) + in magenta underlined
56 horrowes]
Caldecott (ed. 1832, pp. 3-6) says the line means <p.3> “Confounds and overwhelms, as by the most alarming apprehension of acts of inroad and violence. This line is almost copied by Milton in Comus: ‘Amaz’d I stood,
harrow’d with grief and
fear.’ v. 565. And it is observable, that Warton neither offers any interpretation, nor points out the etymon: and the lexicographers are either silent or not at all agreed upon the subject.
It harrows me with fear and wonder ] i.e. distracts, or tears to pieces like an harrow, a drag with iron teeth to break the clods of erth after ploughing, from Aro, Lat. to plough; which is elucidated by Dr. Johnson [1755?], ‘to practice aration.’ Interpreting harrow in this place ‘disturb, put into commotion,’
he derives the noun from
charroue, Fr. and
harcke, Germ. a rake; and thinks it should be written would read
harry, from
harer, Fr.
But harrie, says Minshieu [1617], to ‘turmoile or vexe,’
is from
har, Sax. intorsio, tormentum. suggests
aro, to plough, as the derivation of
harrow; and derives
harrie, which he interprets ‘to turmoile or vexe,’ from
har, Sax. intorsio, tormentum; while
Johnson derives the verb in the sense of beat or break up, and the noun
harrow, from
charroue, Fr. and
harcke, Germ. a rake. It should seem that they are considered as one and the same word by Mr. Tyrwhitt, who interprets it elsewhere, as Mr. Steevens does here, ‘to conquer or subdue.’ He says, ‘by him that
harwed helle,’ is
harried. Sax. harassed, subdued, Ch.
Mill.
T. v.3512 [Chaucer’s “Miller’s Tale”] ; and adds, ‘Our ancesters were very fond of a story of Christ’s exploits in his
Descensus ad inferos, which they called the
harrowing of helle. They took it, with several others of the same stamp, from the gospel of Nicodemus.’ Fabr.
Cod. Apoc. N. T. There is a poem upon this subject in MS. Bodl. 1687. ‘How Jesu Crist
herowed helle; of harde gestes, ich wille telle.’ Tyrwhitt’s Chaucer [2:430] 4to ed.
and for this sense see ‘I repent me much that I so harried him.’ [Ant. 3.3.Cl]
“It is somewhat singular, that we find the word
harow in the same tale. ‘Let be, Nicholas, Or I wol crie out
harow and alas v.3286, referred, by Mr. Tyrwhitt, to a different origin: he ‘rather believes
haro to be derived from two Islandic words, once probably common to all the Scandinavian nations,
har, altus, and
op, clamor; and adds that
haroep or
harop, was used by some of the inhabitants of the Low Countries in the sense of
harou by the Normans.’ Ibid. [vol. 2]. Warton says, ‘this was an exclamation of alarm and terror, and an outcry upon the name of
Rou or
Rollo, for help.’ Todd’s Spencer [3:414}. But as </p.3> <p.4> the three words
harrow, harrie, and
harow, are, under various spellings, confounded by glossographers, they may all not unreasonably be referred to the same source.
“The words appear, thus variously represented, in our different old writers: ‘Harro, harrow, Io, eheu; a Fr. haro, an outcry for help, much the same as the English hue and cry: vide Menage.’ Gloss. to Gaw. Douglas’s Virg. Fo. 1710. ‘Hery, hary, hubbilschow. These are words expressive of hurry and confusion. Hiry, hary, seem to be a corruption of the Fr. haro, or the cry of à l’aide, like huetium in our old laws, and hue in English. Hubbilschow* [p.4n] is used with us for uproar. Ancient Scottish Poems from MS. of G. Bannatyne, 1770. p. 173. ‘With bludy ene rolling full thrawynlie Oft and richt schrewitly wold sche clepe and crye, Out, Harro, matrouns, quharesoever ze be.’ G. Doug, Virg, p. 220. ‘torvumque repente Clamat, Io, matres, audite, ubi quæque.’ Æn VII.399. ‘They rent thare hare with harro and allake.” Ib. p. 432. ‘—manu crines laniata—turba furit.’ Æn. XII.605. ‘Wherefore I crye out harowe on them [the evyl shrewes] whiche so falsly have belyed me.’ Reynard, the Foxe, 12mo. 1550. Signat. L.1,b. ‘Advocates and attorneys in open audience at the barre looke as tho they would eat one another, crying Harrol for justice on their client’s side.’ R. C’s Hen. Steph. Apology for Herodotus, fo. 1608, p. 342.
“An instance in which the word occurs in Ascham’s Toxophilus has given occasion to a strange perversion of the text: one of the infinite number of instances in which the ignorance and presumption of Editors has gone a great way towards blotting from the page of history, together with all traces of the character of their author’s style, the evidence of our ancient usages. ‘One of the players shall have a payre of false dyse and cast them out upon the boarde, the honest man shall take them and cast them as he did the other, the thirde shall espye them to be false dyse and shall cry out, haroe with all the othes under God, that he hath falsely wonne their money, and then there is nothing but hould thy throte from my dagger.’ 4to. 1571, fo. 14,b.
“Such is the original: but a book published under the name of ‘James Bennet, Master of the Boarding School at Hoddesdon, Herts,’ by Davies and Dodsley, 4to. without date, intitled </p.4> <p.5> the English Works and Life of Roger Ascham (in which the dedication and life at least are the work of Dr.
Johnson), instead of ‘
crye out, haroe,’ the editor has given ‘
crye out harde,’ </p.4> <p.5> altering as well the punctuation as the word itself: and in this very ridiculous depravation he has been followed by Mr. Walters, a Glamorganshire clergyman, in an 8vo. edition, 1788 and in an edition of all his English Works, 8vo. 1815. White, Fleet-street.
“From this Norman usage, Mr. Ritson says the word ‘is erroneously supposed by some to be a corruption of Ha Rou,*[p.5n] i.e. Rollo, Duke of Normandy: Pharroh, however, was the old war cry of the Irish. Camd. Britann. 1695, p. 1047, and Spenser’s View of Ireland. The word too, or crie de guerre, of Joan of Arc, was Hara ha. Howell’s Letters, 8vo. 1726, p. 113.’ Anc. Metrical Romances, [3:349], 8vo. 1802.
“But, whatever its real origin, the tradition of the country, and the form of the invocation of their revered chieftain (à l’aide,
mon prince), demonstrates what must have been the opinion of the inhabitants of Normandy and its adjacent isles upon this subject: and in those islands this form of invocation is continued to the present day. The 53d chapter of the
Grand Coustumier de Normandie treats De
Haro, rendered in the Latin text or translation, ‘De clamore, qui dicitur
Harou.’ It states, ‘that in his court of
Haro the Duke of Normandy makes inquest, whether this cry is raised with just cause or otherwise, heavy penalties attending a false clamour: and directs, that it shall not be raised, unless in criminal cases or offences against the state.’ Rouen, Fo. 1539, fo. 10 & 74. But the practise is, and as far as appears, ever has been, directly opposite: and we are well informed, that in Jersey and Guernsey it is the constant usage,
interjetter le clameur de haro, in civil cases, to prevent trespass or entry under colour of right; and if any such inroad is repeated after this cry has been raised, heavy penalties ensue. That it ever could have been confined to criminal cases will hardly be allowed, if any credit is due to the story recorded of the stoppage of the Conqueror’s funeral. He had violently dispossessed the owner of the ground, in which it was proposed to deposit his remains. The owner, conceiving this to be a new invasion of his property, and possibly that the death of the invader operated as a renewal of those rights, a suspension of the exercise of which he had hitherto been compelled to acquiesce under, threw in the
clameur de haro. Falle, from
Paulus Æmilius, Œniglius, states his challenge to have been made in these words: ‘Qui regna oppressit armis, me quoque metu mortis hactenus oppressit. Ego, injuriæ superstes, pacem mortuo non dabo. In quem infertis hunc hominem locum meus est. In alienum </p.5> <p.6> solum inferendi mortui jus nemini esse defendo. Si, extincto tandem indignitatis authore, vivit adhuc vis,
Rollenem, conditorem parentemque gentis,
appello; qui legibus a se datis quam </p.5> <p.6> cujusquam injuria plus unus potest polletque.’
Hist. of Jersey, 1734. P.16, 17.
“It appears too, that this exclamation is, down to the present times, used still more extensively; and that it is resorted to by those who meditate or make attack, as well as those who are assailed. In his private memoir of Louis XVI. Mr. Bertrand de Moleville says, speaking of himself, ‘There was a general shout of Haro sur l’Intendant, accompanied with the most furious imprecations:’ and it is added in a note, that ‘this cry is used by the populace of Brittany and Normandy, when they intend to insult*[p.6n] or attack any body.’ 8vo. 1797, [1:84]. It occurred at Rennes. And in Pryce’s Antient Vocabulary of Cornwal (which lies opposite the coast of Normandy) 4to. 1790, we find the word; and in a corresponding sense making other modifications of it, as harow, harow! sad, sad. Har, slaughter. Hara, an arrow (i.e. the cause of slaughter) whence heir, a battle, and heirva, a place of battle.
“In the text, and in the familiar and vernacular language, the language of Shakespeare, the word is used in the metaphorical sense, which it takes, as before stated. from the operation of the harrow, in tearing asunder the clods of ploughed earth; and signifies “rend or tear to pieces.” </p.6>
<n> <p. 4> *[p.4n]“ Hubbub, or as they pronounce it, hoobhoob, is at this day an exclamation of a similar import in South Wales; and in “Warwickshire they have a proverbial distich, ‘Hoo roo the devil’s to do.’” </p.4> </n>
<n> <p. 5> *[p.5n]“ Raoul is the real and proper name, Rou or Ro the abbreviation, Rollo the latinised name, and now universally adopted; in the same way as we sat Thuanus for De Thou. From whatever other sources derived, this word may have been engrafted into our language, it seems clear, that it has been transmitted to us by our Norman ancestors.” </p.5> </n>
<n> <p. 6> *[p.6n] “But it has been questioned, whether the Intendant was not here considered as a wrongful intruder and malfeasor, against whose tortuous entry the cry was raised.” <n> </p. 6>
cald2
54-6 Caldecott (
apud Furness, ed. 1877): “It is natural that the surprise and terror of the speaker should bear some proportion to the degree of his former confidence and incredulity.”
1839 knt1
knt1: cald2 +
56 horrowes]
Knight (ed. 1839): “Mr.
Caldecott states that the word
harrow is here used in the metaphorical sense which it take from the operations of the harrow, in tearing asunder clods of earth. On the other hand some etymologists assert that
to harrow and
to harry (to vex, to disturb) are the same, and that the implement of husbandry derived its name from the verb. Mr.
Caldecott has a curious note on the
harou—the cry of help—of the Normans, with which
harrow and
harry seem to have some connexion. (See his ‘Specimen of an Edition of Shakespeare,’ 1832.)
1843 knt2
knt2 = knt1
56 horrowes]
1843 col1
col1: standard
56 horrowes] Collier (ed. 1843): “One of the senses of ‘to harrow’ is to overthrow or subdue, and some lexicographers have contended that it is more properly spelt harry. The verb occurs with a different meaning afterwards.”
1845 Hunter
Hunter: Steevens or cald + in magenta underlined
56 horrowes] Hunter (1845, 2: 213): “to tear to pieces, to distract. ‘And when that harrying it, and all to-tearing.’— Harrington’s Ariosto, Canto 37, St. 68. It seems to be formed on the action of the harrow upon the clods and furrows.”
1854 del2
del2
56 horrowes] Delius (ed. 1854): “to harrow zunächst ‘aufreissen,’ wie mit der Egge, dann ‘verwüsten’ und ‘durchwühlen,’ ‘gewaltsam durchfahren.’ Die Beduetung ‘underjochen,’ welche englische Commentatoren dem Worte beilegen, ist zweifelhaft, da an den betreffe Stellen die aus dem Gründbegriff such ergebenden Bedeutungen eben so gut passen. Dass es schon zu Sh.’s Zeit ein seltenes und leicht misszuverstehendes Wort war, zeigt die Lesart von Q. A.: it horrors me etc.” [first of all to tear open as with a harrow, then to lay waste, and root up, to go through with force. The meaning “to subject” that English commentators give the word is doubtful since in the passage in question the meanings coming from the basic concept fit so well. That already in Sh.’s time it was a rare word easy to misunderstand is shown by the version of Q1: it horrors me etc.]
1856 hud1
hud1 ≈ sing1 + Q1 VN
56 horrowes]
1856 sing2
sing2 = sing1
56 horrowes]
1857 fieb
fieb: cald gloss [break up] without attribution, Steevens gloss [conquer, subdue] without attribution; Nares; Steevens without attribution on Milton + in magenta underlined
56 horrowes] Fiebig (ed. 1857): “To harrow properly means: to break up with the harrow (Egge), to tear up; and figuratively, as it is employed in this place: to disturb, to subdue, to conquer. Nares, in his Glossary [and he paraphrases/quotes gloss, part of harrowed hell, and 1 ref to Spenser]. [then Steevens on Milton without attribution].
1858 col3
col3 ≈ col1 w/ slight variation in magenta
56 horrowes] Collier (ed. 1858): ““One of the senses of ‘to harrow’ is to overthrow or subdue, and some lexicographers have contended that it is more properly spelt harry. The verb occurs with a different meaning afterwards. The verb recurs, with an obvious meaning, in scene 5 of this Act.”
col3
56 horrowes] Collier (ed. 1858, Glossary 6:706): “to overthrow, to destroy, v. 475.”
1868 c&mc
c&mc ≈ cald1
56 Clarke & Clarke (ed. 1868): “‘Harasses,’ ‘tears,’ ‘rends,’ as a harrow breaks up the clods.”
1872 Wedgwood
Wedgwood
56 horrowes] Wedgwood (1872): “Harrow! A cry of distress; OFr., hare! harau! Crier haro sur, to make hue and cry after. . . . Bohem. hr! hrr! interjection of excitement (frementis), hurrah! ohg, haren, to cry out. Sc. harro! an outcry for help, often used as a cheer or encouragement to pursuit.
“A harrowing sight is one which leads to the exclamation harrow!”
1872 cln1
cln1 : standard
56 horrowes] Clark & Wright (ed. 1872): “See 1.5.16 [701].”
1872 hud2
hud2 = hud1 minus Q1 VN
56 horrowes]
1870 rug1
rug1
56 horrowes] Moberly (ed. 1870): “Old writers seem sometimes to mingle the two different words, ‘harry” to ravage, and ‘harrow’ in the ordinary sense; as in [Cor. 5.23? (3383)], ‘plough Rome and harrow Italy.’ So the descent of Christ was called in legends the ‘harrowing (harrying) of hell.’ Some editions read “it horrors me.”
Ed. note: Q1 has horrors.
1877 v1877
v1877: Steevens on Comus, cald, Clarke
56 horrowes] Clarke (apud ed. 1877): “Horatio’s previous levity makes his subsequent awe, and trembling, and paleness seem like the effects of our own awe-stricken imaginations.”
1877 = Wedgwood (minus a bit)
56 horrowes] Wedgwood (apud ed. 1877): “Harrow! a cry of distress; Old French, hare! harau! Crier haro sur, to make hue and cry after. Bohem. hr! hrr! interjection of excitement (frementis), hurrah! Old High German, haren, to cry out. A harrowing sight is one which leads to the exclamation harrow!”
1880 Grosart
Grosart
56 horrowes]
Grosart (1880, 13: ix), referring to Scoloker’s line “Ile haue reuenge, or harrow vp my will” (p. 36, st. 4, line 6) explains
harrow <p. ix>
as“tear to pieces,
destroy—another Hamlet word [by Scoloker],
e.g., ‘It
harrows me with fear and wonder’ [56], and ‘lightest word would
harrow up my soul’ [701].” </p. ix>
Grosart’s notes are in his intro, not on the page of Scoloker’s poem.
1881 hud3
hud3 = hud2
56 horrowes]
1885 mull
mull: standard gloss
56 horrowes] Mull (ed. 1885): “subdues.”
See his n. 701 where he has “lacerates,” which ≈ Grosart
1890 irv2
irv2: standard
56 horrowes] Marshall (ed. 1890): “afflicts, tortures; or perhaps, figuratively = tears, lacerates.”
irv2: john; // Cor. ; standard gloss; Milton + Q1 conj.
56 horrowes]
Marshall (ed. 1890): “Q.1 has a peculiar reading,
horrors, which has not, I think, received the attention it deserves. There is no other instance, that I am aware of, of the use of
horror as a verb; but it certainly is a most forcible expression, especially if we remember the original meaning of the Latin word
horreo, from which
horrow is derived. The substantive is frequently used of ‘that which causes
horror,’ so that there is no reason why a verb coined from that word should not be used in a transitive sense. As to
harrow, Shakespeare only uses the verb three times; twice in this play, figuratively in both cases, and in a quibbling sense in [
Cor. 5.3.34 (3383) and quotes]. In the other passage of this play where it occurs [701], in the speech of the Ghost, it is used with
up; and here I think it is used in a similar sense, and that there is no idea of referring to
haro, a cry of distress.
Johnson thought that the word should be written
harry, and should have the same sense
as in the well-known phrase, ‘the
harrowing of hell’; but if
harrow be the right reading, there can be little doubt, though it occurs here without the preposition, that it is used, as in the passage below, in a sense derived from its ordinary and agricultural meaning. It would be a bold measure, in the text of a play so familiar as this, to introduce any innovation; but certainly the reading of §Q1, if a misprint, is a singularly felicitous one; for it exactly describes that effect of fear which makes the skin ‘bristle’ as it were, that peculiar feeling which, in vulgar parlance, is called ‘goose flesh.’
“Nearly all the commentators quote Milton’s use of the word harrow, in a similar figurative sense, in Comus, line 565 [quotes].”
1891 dtn1
dtn1: Skeat Ety, Dict., Steevens on Comus + in magenta underlined
56 horrowes] Deighton (ed. 1891): “confounds, paralyzes; more usually spelt harry, the form harrow being ‘chiefly confined to the phrase ‘the Harrowing of Hell,’ i.e. the despoiling of hell by Christ[[ . . . ]] — A. S. hergian, to lay waste. Literally to over-run with an army’ [[ . . . Skeat, Ety. Dict.]]
1899 ard1
ard1: standard on xref to 701; Comus 565
56 horrowes]
1922 thur
thur: standard
56 horrowes] Thurber (ed. 1922): “a strong word, meaning to move greatly, to horrify. [. . . ]. Note the sudden change in the feelings of Horatio.”
1928 Greg
Greg
56 horrowes] Greg (1928, apud Munro, ed. 1958) “conjectures that Shakespeare wrote ‘harows’ with the peculiar ‘a’ that was liable to be mistaken for ‘or’ and hence appeared as ‘horrowes’ in Q2 and ‘horrows’ in the prompt-book; that this ‘horrows’ was mistaken for ‘horrors’ in the actor’s part (hence Q1), but correctly restored to “harrowes’ in F.”
1931 crg1
crg1 ≈ irv without attribution + in magenta
56 horrowes] Craig (ed. 1931): “harrows, lacerates the feelings.”
1934 rid1
rid1
56 horrowes] Ridley (ed. 1934, Glossary): “horrors, terrifies”
1938 parc
parc ≈ cam3 without attribution
56 horrowes] Parrott & Craig (ed. 1938) insists that Q1 and Q2 have o for a in error, but since the sound of o and a were very similar, the Q1 variant “may be due to an auditory error by the reporter followed by a mis-correction.”
1952 har
har: standard
56 horrowes] Harrison (ed. 1952): “distresses; lit. plows up.”
1987 oxf4
oxf4 ≈ parc without attribution; Wilson
56 Hibbard (ed. 1987) says that Q1 horrors “looks like an auditory error by the reporter,” but that, as MSH says, Q2’s horrowes could be a variant spelling of harrowes, which the OED cites as the first use of the word in a figurative sense.
Ed. note: Hibbard’s claim about Q1 begs the question of memorial reconstruction. Wilson MSH does not say what Hibbard says but cites E. M. Cox, who does, in his ed. of Remedy for Sedition (1933, p. 47): “horrowe with spades.”
1992 fol2
fol2 : standard
56
horrowes] Mowat & Werstine (ed. 1992): “torments (A harrow is a farm implement used to break up the ground.)“
1993 dent
dent
56 horrowes] Andrews (ed. 1993) thinks the Q1 and Q2 variants, meaning horrifies, are more Shn than the F1 variant.
1996 OED on line
56 horrowes] OED “ v. 4. To lacerate or wound the feelings of; to vex, pain, or distress
greatly. (Rarely with up.) 1602 SHAKS Ham. I. i. 44 It harrowes me with fear and wonder. Ibid. I. v. 16, I could a Tale vnfold, whose lightest word Would harrow vp thy soule.
“horror 3. a. A painful emotion compounded of loathing and fear; a shuddering with terror and repugnance; strong aversion mingled with dread; the feeling excited by something shocking or frightful. Also in weaker sense, intense dislike or repugnance. (The prevalent use at all times.)
“c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints, Mathias 47 Gret horroure had flai alsa, For sic dremynge. 1382 WYCLIF Ezek. xxxii. 10 The kyngis..with ful myche orrour shulen be agast vpon thee. c 1386 CHAUCER Pars. T. 149 Ther shal horrour and grisly drede dwellen with-outen ende. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 371/1 Orrowre, horror. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de
W. 1531) 90 b, Affeccyon & loue to this present worlde, horrour & despeccyon of the worlde to come. 1602 MARSTON Ant. & Mel. IV. Wks. 1856 I. 54 A sodden horror doth invade my blood. 1632 J. HAYWARD tr. Biondi’s Eromena 30 Foure bodies..whereof (to their great horror) they knew at the first sight their Mistresse and the Prince.
“horre, v. Obs. [ad. L. horrere to stand on end (as hair), to bristle, to be rough; to shake, tremble, shiver, shudder, quake; to shudder at, dread, loathe: cf. ABHOR v.] trans. To abhor. c 1430 Life St. Kath. (1884) 31 fiay horre not fle foule ymage of eny myschape flyng. Ibid. 47 Had not oure lawe horred fle sect of cristen puple. 1450–1530 Myrr. our Ladye 120 When thou shuldest take vpon the mankynde for the delyueraunce of man; thow horydest not the vyrgyns wombe.”
2001 MED
56 horrowes] MED: harwe n. Also haru, har(r)ou, harewe, harow(e), harrowe
All pertain to the plough and ploughing. It is from OE hearwa and possibly akin to OE hyrwan to abuse: “borrowing from either ON or MLG is unlikely on phonological grounds.”
2006 ard3q2
ard3q2: OED; xref 701
56 horrowes] harrows Thompson & Taylor (ed. 2006): “Q2’s ’horrowes’ is usually assumed to be an obsolete form of ’harrowes,’ a word which recurs in both texts at 1.5.16 [701]. The metaphor derives from the agricultural implement that breaks up the ground after ploughing, and OED records these as the earliest examples of the transferred use. OED also implies that there is no direct connection with the ’harrowing of Hell.’ where ’harrow’ derives from ’to harry’ (to raid or despoil), nut given the context of Shakespeare’s usages, there might have been a link in is mind.”
