Where does “anguish” come from?
Anguish comes from Middle English angwissh, from Old French anguisse, from Latin angustia meaning narrowness or tightness, derived from Latin angustus meaning narrow.
anguish (English): Extreme pain, either of body or mind;...
Definitions
- Extreme pain, either of body or mind;...
Ancestry of “anguish”, step by step
anguish traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Middle English angwissh
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | angwissh | Distress, anxiety, nervousness; Anguish, terror,... |
| 2 | Anglo-Norman | anguise | Alternative form of angoisse |
| 3 | Old French | angoisse | fear, worry, terror |
| 4 | Latin | angustia | narrowness, straitness; defile, straight, gorge;... |
| 5 | Latin | -ia | Used to form a feminine abstract noun, usually... |
| 6 | Latin | -ius | forming adjectives from nouns; nominative neuter... |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | -jōs | Forms comparative adjectives |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | -yós | Creates adjectives from noun or verb stems |
via Middle Irish Aengus
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle Irish | Aengus | The Gaelic god of love, youth, and poetic inspiration, son of the Dagdae and Boann of the Túatha Dé Danann |
| 2 | Old Irish | Oíngus | Angus |
| 3 | Proto-Celtic | *Oinogustus | — |