anguish

英文词源

anguish

anguish: [13] English acquired anguish from Old French anguisse, changing its ending to -ish in the 14th century. Its central notion of ‘distress’ or ‘suffering’ goes back ultimately (as in the case of the related anger) to a set of words meaning ‘constriction’ (for the sense development, compare the phrase in dire straits, where strait originally meant ‘narrow’).

Old French anguisse came from Latin angustia ‘distress’, which was derived from the adjective angustus ‘narrow’. Like Greek ánkhein ‘squeeze, strangle’ (ultimate source of English angina [16]) and Latin angere ‘strangle’, this came originally from an Indo-European base *angg- ‘narrow’.
=> anger, angina

anguish (n.)

c. 1200, "acute bodily or mental suffering," from Old French anguisse, angoisse "choking sensation, distress, anxiety, rage," from Latin angustia (plural angustiae) "tightness, straitness, narrowness;" figuratively "distress, difficulty," from ang(u)ere "to throttle, torment" (see anger (v.)).

anguish (v.)

early 14c., intransitive and reflexive; mid-14c., transitive, from Old French anguissier (Modern French angoisser), from anguisse (see anguish (n.)). Related: Anguished; anguishing.