Perhaps a modification of French haridelle (“old horse, nag”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈhæɹ.ɪ.dən/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈhæɹ.ɪ.dən/, /ˈhɛɹ.ɪ.dən/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

harridan (plural harridans)

1. A vicious and scolding woman, especially an older one.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:shrew

   • 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 13, in Vanity Fair[…], London: Bradbury and Evans[…], published 1848, →OCLC:

     Why is that tattling old harridan, Peggy O'Dowd, to make free with my name at her d—d supper-table, and advertise my engagement over the three kingdoms?

   • 1916 December 29, James Joyce, chapter I, in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, New York, N.Y.: B[enjamin] W. Huebsch, →OCLC, page 37:

     Well there was one old lady, and a drunken old harridan she was surely, that paid all her attention to me.