It's all Greek to me! (Part two)

Emotions, attitudes, situations

 AGONY gr. Agonia = originally, the impatience of an athlete taking part in a fight (agon). Later, the meaning was extended to denote insecurity, fear and suffering of mind and body.

DILEMMA gr Dilemma = quandary, puzzling situation. Question which consist of two propositions conflicting each other and of which, whichever is selected can have equally favourable or negative consequences. Difficulty of choice between two options, neither of which is clearly advantageous.

HYSTERIA gr Hysteria (from HYSTERA = womb, because in antiquity it was thought that the cause was the uterus). A neurosis characterized by loss of control over emotions and conversion of anxiety into symptoms of the body. In an hysterical crisis there may be an outburst of emotions, sometimes with an alternation of laughing and crying.

IRONY gr. Eironeia = mode of speech in which a meaning is expressed opposite to the words used. Mild sarcasm. Also a situation where things go in the opposite direction to that expressed or desired.

JEALOUSY gr. Zelos = eager competition, but also envy. Morbid sentiment arising from envy and distrust of another person. Adj. jealous.

 MANIA gr. Mania = compulsive desire, obsession with something. Examples of  various manias are kleptomania, dipsomania, nymphomania. Sometimes it means excessive enthusiasm as in “Cinemania”  etc

PANIC gr. Panikos. The fear of Pan (see mythology). Unreasoning fright with loss of control and inability to react effectively. An alarming situation.