英语词汇agony的起源、历史背景-英语词源词典

agony. The Greek word from which agony derives first meant an athletic contest, next came to mean a struggle for victory in an athletic contest, then any struggle, and finally mental strug- gle or anguish like Christ’s in Gethsemane. The idea of physical pain and suffering isn’t recorded for agony until about the 17th century, but it is hard not to think of an athletic contest when contemplating this meaning. As one writer notes: “You only have to look at a photograph of anybody running the 100-yard dash to understand how it [the athletic contest] came in its En- glish version to have the sense of ‘agony.’ ”

词汇	agony
词源	agony. The Greek word from which agony derives first meant an athletic contest, next came to mean a struggle for victory in an athletic contest, then any struggle, and finally mental strug- gle or anguish like Christ’s in Gethsemane. The idea of physical pain and suffering isn’t recorded for agony until about the 17th century, but it is hard not to think of an athletic contest when contemplating this meaning. As one writer notes: “You only have to look at a photograph of anybody running the 100-yard dash to understand how it [the athletic contest] came in its En- glish version to have the sense of ‘agony.’ ”
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