quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- agony
- agony: [14] Agony is one of the more remote relatives of that prolific Latin verb agere (see AGENT). Its ultimate source is the Greek verb ágein ‘lead’, which comes from the same Indo- European root as agere. Related to ágein was the Greek noun agón, originally literally ‘a bringing of people together to compete for a prize’, hence ‘contest, conflict’ (which has been borrowed directly into English as agon, a technical term for the conflict between the main characters in a work of literature).
Derived from agón was agōníā ‘(mental) struggle, anguish’, which passed into English via either late Latin agōnia or French agonie. The sense of physical suffering did not develop until the 17th century; hitherto, agony had been reserved for mental stress. The first mention of an agony column comes in the magazine Fun in 1863.
=> antagonist - athlete
- athlete: [18] The etymological idea underlying athlete is ‘competing for a prize’. Greek āthlon meant ‘award, prize’, whence the verb athlein ‘compete for a prize’. Derived from this was the noun athlētés ‘competitor’. The context in which the word was most commonly used in Greek was that of the public games, where competitors took part in races, boxing matches, etc. Hence the gradual narrowing down of the meaning of athlete to ‘one who takes part in sports involving physical exercise’, and even further to ‘participant in track and field events’.