Does the expression to harp on, as in “to nag,” have anything to do with the stringed instrument one plays by plucking? Yes! As early as the 16th century to harp all of one string meant to keep playing the same single note monotonously. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “To Harp on Something”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hi, this is Jack Vanderbeek from Olympia, Washington.
I’ve got a question for you.
All right, shoot.
I was doing a little writing the other day, and I came up on the verb harp.
It was a common word when I was growing up, meaning to kind of nag, like harping on something, to harp on somebody or something.
It was kind of returning to the same subject over and over.
I was wondering where that came from.
Yeah, to just say the same thing over and over and over.
Again, huh? Do you have any theories?
You know, for some reason, I kind of thought it came from the church somehow.
It was like the harp of an angel or something like that.
I was thinking about this morning, and it occurred to me that maybe it had to do with a harpy, but I don’t even understand where that came from or why it would be a verb.
You know, I always pictured a harp as being a stringed instrument.
Yeah, you’re on the right track with the harp as a stringed instrument.
It’s actually, the original version of this is to harp on the same string or to harp on one string.
You can go all the way back to the 16th century and find references to somebody who harpeth all of one string, or I’m looking at another one that says, harp no more upon that string, or he harps much upon that jarring string.
So the idea is, it’s almost like a little kid who’s driving you nuts by holding a harp and just plucking that one string again and again and again and again and again.
Okay.
So it’s kind of the monotony.
Yeah.
Yeah, exactly.
The monotony.
Oh, okay.
Well, I suppose that makes a lot more sense.
I don’t think that the people I was hearing it from understood its derivation either, but they got their point across.
Yeah, yeah.
It’s a very picturesque phrase if you think about it.
And a long way from its origins now.
Yeah, back to the 16th century, you said.
Yes, indeed.
How about that?
Well, hey, that explained a lot.
Okay, well, we’re glad to help, Jack.
Thank you so much for calling.
All right.
Well, thank you very much.
Thanks for your program.
Okay.
Take care, Jack.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
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