agony [LME] Agony referred originally only to mental anguish. It came into English via late Latin from Greek agōnia, from agōn ‘contest’ (the base, too, of agonize [L16th]). The Greek sense development moved from struggle for victory in the games, to any struggle, to mental struggle specifically (such as the torment of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane). The extension in English to an idea of ‘physical’ suffering dates from the early 15th century. Greek agōn is also the source of the dramatic protagonist [L17th] from Greek proto- ‘first’ and ágōnistés ‘actor, contestant’ and at the root of antagonist [M16th] from anti- ‘against’ and agōnízesthai ‘struggle’.