Agony
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Agony (Greek αγωνία, agonía "the suffering, the struggle") is unbearable suffering.
Agony is the term for extreme pain (internal or external) that may or may not last very long. One may be in agony when hurt very badly, for instance when stabbed or burned, or experiencing some kind of body malfunction.
Agony is mentioned in various religions. Christians refer to Christ's anguish in Gethsemane as 'the agony', and the church near the Garden of Gethsemane is known as the Church of the Agony.
Jews use the term for the ethnic catastrophe of the Holocaust in Germany's Third Reich.
Agony is suffered in some terminal illnesses, such as cancer, and is sometimes scarcely relieved even by heroin. In many U.S. hospitals, pain is measured on a self-anchoring scale from 0 to 9, in which the patient is asked to rank personal pain. Nine is considered agony.
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Etymology
Corresponding noun of Ancient Greek ἀγείρω (ageírō, “to gather”), with later senses from ἄγω (ágō, “to lead”). Confer Sanskrit गण (gaṇa, “troop, gang, flock, tribe, assembly, company”); Ancient Greek ᾰ̓γορᾱ́ (agorā́, “assembly”), Sanskrit ग्राम (grāma, “multitude, troop, assembly, collective”); Sanskrit आजि (ājí, “race, competition, battle”).
Concepts
- Pain, anguish, or struggle, especially the struggle that precedes death, from the Greek word agonia "struggle, competition".
- Passion (Christianity), also called the Agony of Christ
- Christ's agony at Gethsemane
Namesakes
- The Romantic Agony by Mario Praz.
See also
