agony

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈæɡ.ə.ni/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English agonie, borrowed from Old French agonie,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from Late Latin agōnia,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from Ancient Greek ἀγωνία (agōnía, “struggle for victory; anguish”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from agṓn “assembly, contest”,^[2][3][4][5] from ágein “to lead, drive”.^[2][3][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The mental anguish of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane (1382),^[7][4] and anguish of mind generally (c. 1386).^[7][4]

Semantic evolution

In Greek the word passed from a struggle for victory in the games to any struggle and then to mental struggle or anguish.^[7][4] In English the sense of the death struggle dates from 1549,^[7][4] and of extreme bodily suffering from about 1600.^[7][4] The sense “an intense outburst of emotion”, as in an agony of joy, is from the early 18th century.^[7][6] The agony column of a newspaper, with personal advertisements, is recorded from 1880,^[4] and the British agony aunt answers readers' letters about personal problems.^[1]

Timeline

• 1382 – Christ's agony in Gethsemane.^[7][4]
• c. 1386 – anguish of mind.^[7]
• 1549 – the death struggle.^[7][4]
• 1607 – extreme bodily suffering.^[7]
• before 1725 – a paroxysm of pleasure.^[7]
• 1880 – agony column.^[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Intense physical or mental suffering; anguish.
2. The struggle that precedes death.
3. A sudden, intense display of emotion, as in an agony of suspense.
4. A violent struggle or contest.
5. (often capitalized) The sufferings of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Related words

• agon
• agonal
• agonist
• antagonist
• protagonist
• agonize
• agonise

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press