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Origin and history of anxiety

anxiety(n.)

1520s, "apprehension caused by danger, misfortune, or error, uneasiness of mind respecting some uncertainty, a restless dread of some evil," from Latin anxietatem (nominative anxietas) "anguish, anxiety, solicitude," noun of quality from anxius "uneasy, troubled in mind" (see anxious).

It was sometimes considered a pathological condition (1660s); modern psychiatric use dates to 1904. Age of Anxiety is from Auden's poem (1947). For "anxiety, distress," Old English had angsumnes, Middle English anxumnesse.

also from 1520s

Entries linking to anxiety

anxious(adj.)

1620s, "greatly troubled by uncertainties," from Latin anxius "solicitous, uneasy, troubled in mind" (also "causing anxiety, troublesome"), from angere, anguere "to choke, squeeze," figuratively "to torment, cause distress" (from PIE root *angh- "tight, painfully constricted, painful").

The same image is in Serbo-Croatian tjeskoba "anxiety," literally "tightness, narrowness." The meaning "earnestly desirous" (as in anxious to please) is from 1742. Related: Anxiously; anxiousness.

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    angst
    1944, from a specialized use in psychology of German Angst "neurotic fear, anxiety, guilt, remorse," from Old High German...Old English had a cognate word, angsumnes "anxiety," but it died out....
    scruple
    misgiving, pang of conscience," late 14c., scrupul, from Old French scrupule (14c.), from Latin scrupulus "uneasiness, anxiety...sharp stone," a diminutive of scrupus "sharp stone or pebble," used figuratively by Cicero for a cause of uneasiness or anxiety...
    care
    Old English caru, cearu "sorrow, anxiety, grief," also "burdens of mind; serious mental attention," in late Old English also..."concern, anxiety caused by apprehension of evil or the weight of many burdens," from Proto-Germanic *karō "lament; grief...
    careless
    Old English carleas "free from anxiety; unconcerned," from care (n.) + -less; a compound probably from Proto-Germanic (compare...
    distress
    late 13c., "circumstance that causes anxiety or hardship," from Old French destresse (Modern French détresse), from Vulgar...
    malaise
    c. 1300, maleise "pain, suffering; sorrow, anxiety," also, by late 14c., "disease, sickness," from Old French malaise "difficulty...
    sorrow
    Middle English sorwe, from Old English sorg "grief, regret, trouble, care, pain, anxiety," from Proto-Germanic *sorg- (source...
    hypochondriasis
    disease evidenced by lowness of spirits, sluggishness, indolence, loss of interest in amusements, a wish to be alone, etc., 1765, from hypochondria in its older sense of "melancholy without cause," treated here as a disorder of the body and given the medical ending -osis to denot
    qualm
    Middle English, from Old English cwealm, cwelm (West Saxon) "death, murder, slaughter; disaster; widespread death by plague, pestilence or illness affecting humans or livestock; torment," utcualm (Anglian) "utter destruction," probably related to cwellan "to kill, murder, execute
    panic
    "sudden mass terror," especially an exaggerated fright affecting a number of persons without visible cause or inspired by trifling cause or danger, 1708, from an earlier adjective (c. 1600, modifying fear, terror, etc.), from French panique (15c.), from Greek panikon, literally "

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