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.
From the word’s history
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)
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