ἄλγος

Disputed. Perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *h₂leg- (“to care”), and related to ἀλέγω (alégō, “to take care”).

ᾰ̓́λγος • (ắlgos) n (genitive ἄλγους); third declension

1. pain (of either mind or body), sorrow, trouble, grief, distress, woe
   • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 1.1–2:

     Μῆνιν ἄειδε, θεά, Πηληιάδεω Ἀχιλῆος οὐλομένην, ἣ μυρί’ Ἀχαιοῖς ἄλγε’ ἔθηκε.

     Mênin áeide, theá, Pēlēiádeō Akhilêos ouloménēn, hḕ murí’ Akhaioîs álge’ éthēke.

     • Translation by Samuel Butler

       Sing, O goddess, the rage of Achilles son of Peleus, that brought countless ills upon the Achaeans.

2. that which causes pain or suffering

• πόνος (pónos)

• Greek: άλγος n (álgos, “pain”)
• → English: -algia, -algy

• “ἄλγος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ἄλγος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “ἄλγος”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• ἄλγος in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• ἄλγος in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• ἄλγος in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2025)
• “ἄλγος”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • ache idem, page 8.
  • anguish idem, page 29.
  • grief idem, page 373.
  • heaviness idem, page 393.
  • lamentation idem, page 474.
  • melancholy idem, page 524.
  • misery idem, page 534.
  • pain idem, page 588.
  • sadness idem, page 730.
  • smart idem, page 786.
  • sorrow idem, page 795.
  • torment idem, page 881.
  • unhappiness idem, page 920.
• ἄλγος, in ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ Dictionaries for Ancient Greek and Latin (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese), University of Chicago, since 2011