nemesis

Etymology

First recorded in the 1570s as the name of the Greek goddess of retribution,^[1][2] or 1561 according to Merriam-Webster.^[3] It is borrowed from Ancient Greek νέμεσις (némesis, “righteous indignation; retribution”),^[2][4] literally “distribution” (of what is due),^[1][5] from némein “to distribute, give what is due”,^[2][1] from Proto-Indo-European *nem- (“to assign, allot”).^[1][4]

With a lower-case n, in the sense “retributive justice”, it is attested from the 1590s;^[1] the general sense “anything by which one seems bound to be defeated” dates from about 1930.^[1]

References

1. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
2. [1] [2] [3] Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. [1] Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. [1] [2] The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Boston: Houghton Mifflin
5. [1] Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House